Surprise! Woman in Hunan Being Executed for Instigating Speeches

• Author: Xie Guang

On December 11, 2011, Renminwang (www.people.com.cn/) released a report entitled “A Fugitive’s Mother in Hunan Was Executed for Instigating Villagers to Kill the Head of the Local Police Office”. No legal basis or any particular criminal offence was referred to in the report, the criminal suspect Jing Zhongxiu was sentenced to death by the Yongzhou City Intermediate People’s Court just for instigating allegedly-ignorant villagers to beat a person to death. She was sent to the funeral home of Ningyuan County directly and was then executed by the bailiff. We have previously heard of people being punished for their speeches, but there were no known case of someone being executed for his/her speeches. The country surprised us all.

Assuming Jing had committed the crime of instigation only, the heaviest sentence would be a maximum of three-year imprisonment. Even if she had committed the offense of obstructing an officer in discharging his duties, the heaviest sentence would only be a maximum of seven-year imprisonment. Therefore, punishing Jing by death is seriously against the law.

If the public was satisfied with the police’s performance, even if there exists a hundred people like Jings, the public will not be instigated into attacking the police. It is hoped that the Supreme People’s Court will explain clearly the legal basis of sentencing Jing to...