Those in favour of the death penalty in China will be feeling satisfied these days that an appeal in one of the county’s most-followed murder cases has been rejected, while there are also others claiming the victim’s father has capitalised on becoming an internet celebrity.
It’s justice of a sort for female Nanjing college student, Li Qianyue, and her parents. On 20 September, the Yunnan Provincial High Court publicly pronounced that the first-instance verdict had been upheld.
The Court threw out the appeal by the convicted’s families to uphold its original judgment; three rounds of the death penalty.
In a video report released by The Paper, Li Sheng, the victim’s father, gives a long interview. Li said, “Encountering the devil is a child’s misfortune. The only real thing is that she is unlucky”.
But then Li turns to the accusations that he used the murder of his 21-year-old daughter to make money.
“They put salt on our wounds and thought I was guilty. I don’t know how this logic came about. Such turbulence, such suffering. [It’s] not the life we want”, said Li.
While Li decided in the end to waive any compensation for the murder, he concedes that he has been approached by those wishing to sponsor his broadcasts.
Li said, “We are also grateful, and we acknowledge that. But we can’t say we make money”. Liin fact pointed out that he and his wife are the ones who have paid a lot.
The first round of judgment in the then-2-year-long case came from the Intermediate People’s Court of Xishuangbanna Prefecture of Yunnan Province on 7 July, when it publicly sentenced the three defendants.
Hong Qiao, who the victim thought to be her boyfriend, together with Zhang Chenguang and Cao Zeqing were all sentenced to the death penalty.
Their victim had been lured to Yunnan from Nanjing under false pretenses by Hong, together with the other two male friends. Once there, Hong instructed the others to kill Li. As The Nanjinger reported last year, it is believed to be an emotional dispute which led to the murder.
