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Will Public Outcry Spare Jia Jinglong From Controversial Death Sentence?

by Joyce Huang

   Legal analysts and experts in China say that the fate of a 30-year-old
   Chinese man, sentenced to death for his murder of a village chief in a
   forced demolition dispute, is still up in the air.
   This despite a growing public outcry to stay his execution.
   Jia Jinglong from Hebei province of northern China was convicted of
   murder after he resorted to violence and shot his village chief to
   death with a modified nail gun in early 2015. This was two years after
   his house was allegedly demolished by force, after he was said to have
   exhausted all means to appeal his case.

   The Supreme Court recently ratified Jia's death sentence, which is
   expected to be carried out as early as Monday.

   That was when Jia's family rushed to petition both the Supreme Court in
   Beijing and the Intermediate Court in the province's capital city of
   Shijiazhuang for a reprieve as well as a retrial. Many legal
   professionals have blamed the court for having turned a deaf ear to
   evidence in favor of Jia, which may qualify him for a lesser sentence.
   So far, neither a reply nor an order to carry out the execution has
   been finalized, which Jia's sister took as a good sign.
   There's still hope

   Jia Jingyuan told VOA "No, we have heard nothing so far, " regarding
   the family's petition. "There's still hope," she said, adding her
   family will be allowed to meet Jia in person if he is to be executed.
   According to her, Jia's life was torn apart overnight after the
   wrecking team, led by the village head, flattened the house he had
   carefully renovated in preparation for his marriage. His finance later
   left him -- a tragedy, which gave Jia a hard time.
   For now, Jia appears to have dodged a bullet, but that doesn't mean he
   is out of the woods, said legal studies scholar Zhang Yaojie -- one of
   the few legal observers who have been keeping an eye on the case.
   "In the short term, it's unlikely [that Jia will be executed.] But
   shall his death verdict fail to be reversed, a surprise order can still
   arrive later to close his case when attention from both the media and
   the public dwindles. This is the biggest fear," Zhang said.
   Unjust ruling
   Last week, many well-renowned law professors, including Liu Hong of
   East China University of Political Science and Law, He Haibo of
   Tsinghua University Law School and Zhang Qianfan of Peking University
   Law School, presented legal opinions online in defense of Jia, who they
   said shouldn't have been convicted as a capital murderer.
   They argued that evidence showed that Jia had attempted to turn himself
   in, although he was intercepted and beaten up by relatives of the
   victim minutes before he made it to the police station. They added that
   the village head should have also been held accountable for his failure
   to secure a court order prior to the house demolition which escalated
   their dispute -- some of the reasons experts say why Jia's death
   penalty should be off the table.
   Professor Zhang of Peking University, in particular, urged the court to
   "exercise prudence in applying death penalties" while his colleague He
   Weifang added that China should abolish the capital punishment for
   good.
   Even state media, including China Daily and Global Times, raised
   concerns over the controversy.

   China death sentence: FILE - Former Chinese Railways Minister Liu
   Zhijun, center, is escorted into a courtroom at Beijing No. 2
   Intermediate People's Court in Beijing Monday, July 8, 2013. He
   received a suspended death sentence.

   Looming doubts
   "We are not in the position to call a halt. Yet we feel strongly that
   the order must not be carried out," China Daily in its editorial on
   Monday. "Not because social media are rife with cries against the
   ruling, but because the circumstances are anything but normal, and
   there are some outstanding questions that need to be properly
   answered," it added.
   Despite the public's call to spare Jia's life, Zhang Yaojie said the
   country's judicial system serves no one but those in power.
   "I've studied how the police investigated [the case] and how the
   prosecutor indicted [Jia], all the way till the court handed down its
   verdict. The mindset of those [in power] has remained authoritative,"
   he said.
   "That is, [in their eyes,] you [Jia] are someone who had defied the
   government. You are proved to be a villain after you have killed
   someone. So, we will see to [your death punishment.] Even if evidence
   in favor of you has been spelled out, [the court] wouldn't accept and
   is determined to execute the death sentence," he added.
   Zhang said he suspected the village chief had colluded with the
   judicial system in his profit-oriented land grab initiative -- an
   accusation the chief's daughter flatly denied.
   Victim's side of story
   In a posting on an online forum, someone claiming to be the chief's
   daughter argued that her father had successfully turned around the
   village, which suffered 600,000 yuan ($88,545) in debts before he came
   to power in 2009. And she added that Jia's father had given his consent
   to the demolition agreement in 2010 while the village had appropriated
   two new houses and 31,400 yuan ($4,700) in compensation to the family.
   Her arguments have won some support online as some Weibo users said
   Jia's act was a premeditated and malicious murder.

   But most netizens threw their support behind Jia. "In face of
   oppression, he was forced to resist the authorities and shouldn't be
   put on a death row. Decades ago, his move would have been deemed heroic
   for getting rid of the evil," another Weibo user wrote.
   Some Weibo users contrast Jia's plight to that of Gu Kailai, wife to
   former Politburo member Bo Xilai. Gu's death sentence for poisoning a
   British businessman has been suspended and later cut to life in prison.