The concrete case of Liu Yongan, Shenyang

Why did Liu Yongan change his sentence?

From the death penalty in the first instance to the suspended death penalty in the final instance, Liu Yongan, which has attracted much attention, has accumulated too many news elements. As the media, we have the responsibility to find out the legal basis and key factors of the amendment.

Our reporter/Liu Zhiming (from Shenyang)

On the morning of August 16, 2003, Hu Yan, who lives in Shiwei Road, Heping District, Shenyang, went to the newspaper box to get the newspaper she subscribed to at home as usual.

At first, a piece of news jumped into our eyes: Liu Yong was sentenced to death in the final instance!

Hu Yan suddenly silly, collapsed on the sofa. "I never thought that liuyong could survive such a big case." Nonsense:

In this protracted lawsuit, Hu Yan may be the party who suffered the most. Her husband Wang was beaten to death by Liu Yong's men Song Jianfei and others four years ago.

In April 2002, Liu Yong was sentenced to death in the first instance, and Hu Yan appealed against the civil compensation judgment. For a year, she has been paying attention to the development of the situation every day, waiting for the final judgment.

Final sanction

In Shenyang in August, the noise is still the same.

Liu Yong again. This seemingly weak person has been affecting the hearts of Shenyang people for three years. The final verdict will make him touch the hearts of millions of people in Shenyang again, just like at the time of the crime.

At noon on August 5, 65438, Tieling, which is dozens of kilometers away from Shenyang, made the final judgment. A lawyer told reporters that the Tieling Intermediate People's Court was heavily guarded that day, and the court was crowded with people, most of whom were the families of the defendants.

The person in charge of the Liaoning Provincial High Court read out the final judgment. Liuyong, who was sentenced to death in the first instance, was sentenced to death with a two-year suspension; The second defendant, Song Jianfei, was sentenced to death.

Subsequently, a vice president of Tieling Intermediate People's Court announced the execution order. Song Jianfei was immediately taken to court to be shot. Liu Yong left a life.

The lawyer said that he didn't know the verdict before sentencing, and many people asked him to make a judgment. His judgment is that Liu Yong will die. "But I never expected this result, almost beyond everyone's expectation."

The final judgment of the Liaoning Higher People's Court obtained by the reporter shows that the final judgment upheld the conviction of liuyong and others in the first-instance judgment of Tieling Intermediate People's Court, as well as the sentencing part of liuyong's crimes of organizing and leading underworld organizations, deliberately sabotaging financial affairs, illegal business operations, bribery, illegal possession of guns and obstruction of official duties. What has changed is that the final judgment revoked the sentencing part of liuyong's intentional injury crime in the first-instance judgment. The sentence of liuyong's intentional injury in the first-instance judgment is: death.

The verdict of the second instance on this "intentional injury" was: sentenced to death, with a two-year suspension.

Liuyong's crime of intentional injury was combined with other crimes, and the court decided to execute liuyong with a two-year suspension.

The judgment of combined punishment for several crimes is: committing the crime of organizing and leading an underworld organization and sentenced to 10 years in prison; He was convicted of intentionally destroying financial affairs and sentenced to five years in prison; He was sentenced to five years' imprisonment and fined RMB150,000 yuan for the crime of illegal business operation; He was convicted of accepting bribes and sentenced to five years in prison; He was convicted of illegal possession of guns and sentenced to three years in prison; He was convicted of obstructing official duties and sentenced to three years in prison.

Determination of the Crime of Intentional Injury

For the fate of liuyong, the two judgments undoubtedly played a key role in the determination of the crime of intentional injury.

The public prosecution agency and the court of first instance believe that the object of Liu Yong's "intentional injury" is Hu Yan's husband Wang.

On July 3rd, 200654381,Tieling People's Procuratorate filed a public prosecution against liuyong and others, accusing liuyong of "Iron and Stone Criminal Inspection (20065438+0) No.54";

1999 10 due to the poor sales of "Yunwushan" cigarettes, liuyong ordered a man named Cheng Jian to go to the market to inspect and "clean up" the businesses selling similar cigarettes. On June 5th 10, Song Jianfei, Cheng Jian, Wu Jingming, Dong Tieyan and Li Kai "escaped" to the Heather Farmers Hall in Heping District, Shenyang. Send a leader called Wang upstairs to identify the owner of "Wuyunshan" cigarette. Later, on the second floor of the Agricultural Museum, Li Kai, Song Jianfei and others beat Wang, causing Wang to suffer from blunt external force, which led to the rupture of the right hilum and right atrium, acute hemorrhagic shock complicated with pericardial blockage and died.

According to our reporter's investigation, among all kinds of "misdeeds" known by Liu Yong, this is the only incident involving a murder case.

In an interview with this reporter, Tian Wenchang, one of Liu Yong's defense lawyers and known as the "No.1 criminal lawyer in China", said that among all the charges of Liu Yong, the one that can get Liu Yong sentenced to death is the crime of injury, which is a core issue.

It shows the weight of the determination of "wounding to death" in the whole trial process.

According to lawyer Tian Wenchang's understanding, the key to this "core issue" lies in whether Liu Yong "instigated" Song Jianfei and others to hit people. If you "instigate", you are involved; If there is no instigation, it is not Liu Yong who is to blame.

In April 2002, Tieling Intermediate People's Court ruled that Wang's death was directly related to liuyong's instigation of others to "intentionally hurt" Wang.

Torture?

Our reporter learned during the investigation in Shenyang that another key factor that changed the situation was whether the investigators tortured liuyong and others to extract confessions.

During the trial, liuyong's defense lawyer suggested that during the lawyer's meeting with the client and in court, liuyong and others all reported that the investigators had serious and widespread acts of extorting confessions by torture.

Most defendants retracted their confessions in court.

Liu Yong's other defense lawyer, Lin Tung, a lawyer of Beijing Wansen Law Firm, told this reporter that the prosecution facts identified in the first instance were mutually confirmed according to the defendant's confession in the investigation stage. In the judgment of first instance, the words "defendant's confession" were quoted 49 times. Tong believes that the first-instance judgment is mainly based on the defendant's confession.

During the whole trial in Liu Yongan, Liu Yong's defense lawyer repeatedly emphasized to the court the possibility of extorting confessions by torture. Lin Tung said: "The verdict in this case is mainly based on confession, the source of confession should be legal, and the evidence used should have three points: relevance, legality and objectivity. Only with these three points can it be used as evidence. " Lin Tung said that the source of confession is the product of extorting a confession by torture. Once the legitimacy of the source of confession is overthrown, it loses the objectivity of the final judgment.

The first-instance judgment held that the evidence of extorting a confession by torture by public security organs was insufficient, and the defendant's excuses and defense opinions were not adopted.

Liuyong and others refused to accept and appealed to the Liaoning Provincial High Court.

In the second trial stage, Liu Yong's defense lawyer continued to bite the torture to extract confessions and repeatedly supplemented the investigation. They finally found strong evidence-eight active or retired armed police. All eight armed police officers were transferred to see liuyong or other defendants.

Lin Tung said: These eight armed policemen are the key to changing the sentence in this case.

Feng Youwei, a well-known representative of Liaoning National People's Congress, told the reporter that the Shenyang Public Security Bureau was in a very passive situation at this time, and 100 police officers were all subject to relevant review.

In fact, in the court of first instance, the prosecutor was once caught by Tian Wenchang. At the first trial, liuyong questioned the prosecutor: "When I was sitting on the tiger stool, you saw that my legs were swollen to the root of my thigh."

The prosecutor paused and asked liuyong, "Didn't it get better later?"

The court was booed. Tian Wenchang was quick-witted and caught the details at once.

The final result of the lawyers' efforts is that when the Liaoning Higher People's Court made a final judgment on Liu Yongan, it specifically explained the link of extorting a confession by torture: "The situation of extorting a confession by torture in the investigation process of public security organs cannot be fundamentally ruled out."

This sentence was clearly written into the final judgment.

Tian Wenchang attaches great importance to this point: "This is the most crucial sentence, which is not easy to be reflected in the judgment." Tian Wenchang believes that the reason why Liu Yong was sentenced to death from the first-instance judgment to the final judgment is based on such a sentence in the judgment.

"Because there is a confession by torture, Liu Yong's' participation' and' instigation' cannot be identified." Tian Wenchang said.

Liuyong's sentence was reduced, and his defense lawyer obviously played a decisive role. An official of Shenyang Public Security Bureau told reporters that they felt "sad" when dealing with Liu Yong's case because Liu Yong's lawyer was "too powerful".

Liu Yong changed his sentence and shook Shenyang.

Liu Yong's final judgment was changed, just like the time of the crime, which also caused a great sensation.

Most people in Shenyang believe that the "sensation" is related to the media hype when Liu Yong was killed. Because Liu Yong was never known by most people before the incident, according to media reports, Liu became a heinous "devil" in Shenyang overnight.

A local reporter said that at the time of Liu Yong's case, the source of media hype was only a manuscript provided by an institution.

In his view, the reports that described Liu Yong as a heinous criminal "demonized" Liu Yong, and it is debatable whether Liu is as "evil" as the outside legend. Li Xiaoming, the presiding judge of Criminal Court No.1 of Liaoning Provincial High Court, also believes that some propaganda made by the news media before is not true.

Most people in Shenyang know about Liu Yong, or through newspapers.

Our reporter learned from an investigation in Shenyang that Liu Yong is not a well-known figure in Shenyang. On May 2 1 2000, Jiayang Group, where Liu Yong belongs, invited Andy Lau to give a concert at Wulihe Stadium in Shenyang, and Liu Yong and Jiayang Group began to be known by Shenyang people.

This is the first time that Liu Yong became famous in Shenyang.

Shortly thereafter, Liu Yong became famous again in Shenyang-in July 2000, he was wanted by Shenyang Public Security Bureau and was arrested in a few days.

Why do you want to arrest Liu Yong? There are many versions circulating among the people in Shenyang.

From taking over the case to the end of the final trial, as Liu Yong's defense lawyer, Lin Tung was not satisfied with the final judgment. He believes that since the judgment "cannot fundamentally rule out the possibility of extorting a confession by torture", it means uncertainty. If there is a confession by torture, the case should be sent back for retrial, not simply changed. There should be no uncertain words such as "possible" and "not excluded" in the judgment.

Lin Tung could not understand the ultimate nature of Song Jianfei's death penalty. In his view, Wang's beating to death should be a joint crime of all the people involved, not just one person.

Jin Xisheng, deputy of Liaoning Provincial People's Congress and lawyer of Tongfang Law Firm, said that Liu Yong's sentence was "acceptable". He believes that the outside world's incomprehension of the revision is based on the ignorance of this case. According to the law, the maximum sentence for organizing a triad society is ten years, and there is no death penalty. If Liu Yong had nothing to do with Wang's death, he might not have been given a suspended death sentence.

Lawyer Jin said: "Many countries in the world have abolished the death penalty. China has not abolished the death penalty according to its social structure and specific conditions. Legally speaking, suspension of death and death penalty are actually the same, both of which are death sentences, but there are differences in execution methods. The principle of China's current legislation, from the perspective of legal concepts and trends, is that it can be wide and wide, and it can be less and less. "

Does Liu Yongan feel anything else?

There are a group of provincial people's congress deputies in Shenyang, who are famous for daring to speak for the people. For several years, they have been paying attention to the great influence of Liu Yongan in Shenyang.

In the winter of 2002, the first trial in Liu Yongan has been over for a long time, but the final judgment has not been seen for a long time, and there are many discussions among the people. These provincial people's congress representatives began to ask this matter directly.

A deputy to the National People's Congress said that there were rumors in the society at that time, and some said that Liu Yongan reported to the Supreme People's Court and demanded the death penalty, but it was not approved; Some say that the Liu family took out millions of property and hired a barrister in Beijing.

The NPC deputy told reporters that he had personally seen a material forwarded to Liaoning by the Supreme Court in some unknown channels, the main content of which was that Liu Yong should not be sentenced to death, and listed several explanations, such as the issue of extorting a confession by torture. He found it hard to accept after reading it, so he called the then leader of the Liaoning Provincial Political and Legal Committee. The leader was also surprised, so he invited several NPC representatives to his office to discuss and called a vice president of the Liaoning Provincial High Court at that time.

At that small meeting, the vice president of the High Court said that the Provincial High Court agreed with the verdict of Tieling Intermediate People's Court to sentence liuyong to death, but the Provincial High Court reported the situation to the Supreme Court, which never approved it.

Another NPC deputy told reporters that the Liaoning Provincial High Court has reported liuyong's death sentence to the Supreme Court three times.

After that small meeting, the NPC deputies held another meeting to question Liu Yongan to the Provincial High Court, which also sent two deans, one dean and one vice president.

To the surprise of most NPC deputies, in this investigation, the Provincial High Court overturned the determination of Liu Yongan in the first instance. Many NPC representatives don't understand.

An NPC representative told reporters: "This case is very complicated, and it is still very complicated." He said that he couldn't help thinking of Liu Yongjin, Liu Yong's wife, who once said, "I don't know who laughs last?"

In an interview with this reporter, Li Xiaoming, the presiding judge of the first criminal court of Liu Yongan case of Liaoning Provincial High Court, said: We will continue to report the verdict of Liu Yongan to the Supreme Court. Because this case has been asked several times by the Supreme Court, and there are instructions.

Liuyong's main criminal facts (according to the final judgment)

1. Crime of organizing, leading, participating in or conniving at underworld organizations.

1.1At the end of 995, during the preparation of the Baijia chain store, Shuangxing Shopping Center was threatened and occupied.

2.65438+1April 2, 9971,the leader spoke for others and beat and stabbed one person.

3.1August 7, 997, led a person to beat Weng Yuzhu, manager of Shenyang Shengjing Hotel.

4./KLOC-0 On February 25th, 998, he instructed Song Jianfei and others to hack to death three people, including Yan Liu, general manager of Shengjing Hotel.

5.1autumn of 997, instructed his men to beat the cigarette seller Li Ling and others.

6.1April 20, 998, dancing in a disco and fighting with security guards.

7.1May, 998 instructed Song Jianfei and others to scratch the clothes on the stall in Liu Zhilan and break the fitting mirror.

8.1September 22, 998, instructed Song Jianfei and others to beat Zhou Weijie and smash office supplies.

9. 1998 10, instruct his men to fight Liu Mulin, a tobacco dealer.

He instructed his men to defeat Ge Liang, a tobacco dealer.

11.199810.30 instructed his men to stab Zhou Gang to death because of a dispute.

12.1998165438+10. In October, he shot at the hotel ceiling with a pistol because of a conflict with others.

/kloc-in October, Li Junyan was wounded by a pistol.

14.1999 65438+18 October, led his men to cut Yan Sun with a knife.

15. 1999 April, instructed his men to destroy Zhongjie drugstore.

His men killed the tobacco dealer Wang.

17.5 May, 2000, 15, instructed Song Jianfei and others to chop fortune teller Cui Yan.

18.199711month, giving 30,000 yuan to Liu Shi, president of Shenyang Intermediate People's Court. 65438+200,000 March, 0997.

Renminbi.

19. 1996, 1997, 1998, which are given to Gao Ming, deputy director of the Labor Bureau of Heping District, Shenyang every Spring Festival.

Xi' an 20,000 yuan; 1995, 1996,10,000 yuan is paid to director ling every year.

20.65438+1May 1999 was given to Jiang Xinben, director of Heping District Labor Bureau, for 65438+ten thousand yuan.

2 1. 1998 in August, 20,000 dollars was given to Ma Xiangdong. 1May 1999, another 20,000 yuan was paid.

22.1July 999; Give it to Yang Liwei, deputy manager of the business department of Liaoning Branch of Agricultural Bank of China, with HK$ 50 million.

65438+ 10 month, another 5000 yuan was issued.

23. 199 10, four jigsaw benches and a mirror for Jiao Rose, vice president of Shenyang Central Hospital; 1999

Give a Samsung 800 mobile phone in June165438+1October; Before the Spring Festival in 2000, send $20,000; In February 2000,

Another 30 thousand RMB.

Second, the crime of intentional injury.

1.1989 September 1 1, led Song Jianfei and others to beat Ning Yong.

2.1991July 15, Tong Junsen, the owner of a fashion shop, was injured by a gun.

3.1July, 992, instigated his men to shoot Sun.

4. 1992 10, led his men to cut Zhang and wounded police officer Liu.

Third, the crime of illegal possession of guns.

Illegal possession of a Tsinghua brand small-caliber sport pistol and eight small-caliber sports bullets.

(Source: China Newsweek, No.32, 2003)