The elderly in Qingdao, Shandong Province went on a hunger strike for 288 days
On the steps of the People's Court in Chengyang District, Qingdao, Shandong Province, a grass-green outdoor tent stands out. Zhang Cuiyun has lived here for more than eight months. She is 66 years old. She was detained in a detention center last year on suspicion of a criminal case. During the 288 days of detention, she went on a hunger strike and finally survived on nutrient solution.
In fact, the court had to bail Zhang Cuiyun several times, but she didn't want to come out, "I was wronged, should I give an explanation?" In January this year, she was still forcibly released on bail by the court. But this didn't earn her gratitude.
In defiance of official dissuasion, she went home and packed her bags, and since March 1, she has lived on the stairs of the Chengyang District People's Court office building 24/7. In early June, Zhang Cuiyun's only daughter, Li Kemei, bought a tent for a few hundred yuan, and their lives in the courthouse compound officially began.
It was less than two kilometers from the courthouse to Zhang Cuiyun's home. For more than eight months, she had not returned home once. Apart from going back to get some change of clothes, her daughter hardly set foot in the once warm home.
Zhang Cuiyun's home is located in Xiaozhaizi Community (formerly Xiaozhaizi Village), the Chengyang Street Office of Chengyang District. Her father's generation lived here, and she was not married. She had a relationship with the village for many years, but now she has become the "enemy" of the village.
Before she was detained last year, Zhang Cuiyun was in good health. After living in a tent, her body basically collapsed. During the interview, she had been lying on a moisture-proof mat, trying to sit up several times, but then had to give up.
Every few minutes, she would tremble all over, covering her abdomen from time to time to cover up the pain, and indirectly vomiting blood caused her to look extremely bad. Moreover, in the tent where she couldn't straighten up, it was difficult for her to get out and walk.
Therefore, Zhang Cuiyun's daughter often helped her mother walk on the steps of the courthouse. Since the gate of the courthouse is located on Zhengyang Road, the most prosperous road in the center of Chengyang District, this scene is often seen by passers-by. The onslaught of questions annoyed the court.
More than two months ago, the court found Zhang Cuiyun innocent, but the mother and daughter still did not move away. Immediately after, the Chengyang District People's Procuratorate filed a criminal protest in this case, arguing that the court's acquittal verdict was obviously wrong, but the court felt that the verdict was fine.
So far, Qingdao Zhang Cuiyun's "destruction of property case" has once again fallen into a "dark war".
Suspected of smashing the camera after being monitored
The criminal case involving Zhang Cuiyun originated from six cameras.
Previously, due to some legacy problems in the village, Zhang Cuiyun repeatedly went to the Chengyang District People's Government to report several village cadres in Xiaozhaizi Village.
In court, Zhang Cuiyun confessed that on January 8, 2015, when she and some villagers went to the district government to report the problem, they were intercepted and threatened by people arranged by village cadres; on March 17, when she went to the district government again, she was followed by unidentified people and someone blocked the keyhole of her house with debris.
"That day, village officials installed cameras under my window and other positions," Zhang Cuiyun said. "They wanted to monitor me, afraid that I would report it to the government again."
The reporter noticed that there are three cameras, located in Building 34 and Building 36 of Huacheng Road Second Community, where Xiaozhaizi villagers live, and on the middle platform of these two buildings.
Unit 301, Building 34, was Zhang Cuiyun's home. The cameras were installed under the east window of her house, one was located at the door of her unit, and the other was installed on her way in and out of the house.
Only one of the three cameras can capture Zhang Cuiyun's house, and the other two cannot monitor the indoor scene.
But Zhang Cuiyun felt that all three cameras were monitoring her.
Zhang Weibo, a member of the Xiaozhaizi community, testified that he first installed the camera in January 2015, on the grounds that burglaries in the community occurred from time to time during that time. "The villagers responded strongly. In order to reduce the incidence rate, the community party committee studied and installed the camera."
The People's Court of Chengyang District found that the first installation of the three cameras was in March 2015.
Zhang Cuiyun believes that the existence of these cameras violates her human rights and privacy.
On March 20, 2015, Zhang Cuiyun reported the situation to Yuan Yongbo, director of the petition office of the Chengyang Sub-district Office, who told her that "the village has been notified to demolish it." But the village ignored it.
Director Yuan Yongbo is no longer working in the petition office, and the other party refused to respond to this detail.
After returning home that day, she wanted to smash the camera. After thinking about it, she chose to call the police and let the police testify for her.
"The police arrived shortly after, and as they witnessed, I smashed three cameras with an axe." Zhang Cuiyun said that the police did not stop the whole process, and the police left the scene afterwards.
On April 8, Xiaozhaizi village cadres had cameras reinstalled at the three locations mentioned above.
On April 9, Zhang Cuiyun reported the situation to the Chengyang Sub-district Office again. After failing, she called the police to the scene and smashed the three cameras again in front of the police. "The police still didn't stop it," Zhang Cuiyun said.
This time, she was verbally summoned to the Chengyang police station.
But two police officers said they had persuaded Zhang Cuiyun, but Zhang did not listen.
So, did Zhang Cuiyun start smashing the camera after the police arrived at the scene, or did it start after arriving at the scene? "We have no problem with law enforcement, and others will not be interviewed," said the Chengyang Public Security Bureau of Qingdao Municipal Public Security Bureau.
In this regard, Zhang Cuiyun said: "The police have law enforcement recorders, as long as they are open to the public, it will be clear at a glance."
acquitted at first instance
After smashing the camera, on April 17, 2015, Zhang Cuiyun went to the district government to report the problem. On the same day, she was criminally detained by Chengyang Public Security Bureau on suspicion of destroying property. Immediately, she was detained in Qingdao No. 3 Detention Center.
But from the first day of entering the detention center, Zhang Cuiyun chose to go on a hunger strike, and thought of many ways to discipline, but Zhang Cuiyun still did not eat. Helpless, the detention center could only provide him with nutrient solution.
In order to ensure her safety, the detention center adopted 24-hour care, which made Zhang Cuiyun very grateful, "If it wasn't for them, I would have died long ago." Later, she asked her daughter to give the detention center a pennant.
During her time in detention, the court refused to release her on bail, Ms. Zhang said. "I want an acquittal. If I'm guilty, I'd rather go to jail."
On April 30, the Chengyang District People's Procuratorate approved the arrest of Zhang Cuiyun.
After six days of investigation, the Chengyang Public Security Bureau transferred the case to the procuratorate for review and prosecution.
On May 11, the Chengyang District People's Procuratorate took only five days to review the file and file a public prosecution with the Chengyang District People's Court.
In the prosecution's indictment, in addition to the crime of deliberately destroying property, Zhang Cuiyun also had an additional crime of tolerating others for drug use, which appeared in the second part of the indictment as a separate paragraph.
In court, prosecutors argued that part was a clerical error. The court said it would not judge this defense.
It should be noted that the "Zhang Cuiyun case" encountered many twists and turns during the trial. It is reported that the court held a hearing 14 days after receiving the indictment, and the first hearing of the case was on May 25, 2015. During the litigation, the prosecution twice recommended that the court postpone the trial due to the need for additional evidence.
Later, with the approval of the Qingdao Intermediate People's Court, the case was postponed for three months, and then the Shandong Higher People's Court submitted it to the Supreme People's Court for approval, and the case was postponed for another three months.
By the time Zhang Cuiyun received the first-instance court verdict, the trial time of the case had been 16 months and 2 days. A senior local prosecutor said: "Compared with the trial time, the police investigation and the prosecution's review and prosecution were too short, and it was too late to review the relevant evidence."
On January 15, 2016, when the court heard Zhang Cuiyun's case for the second time, Li Kemei met her detained mother for the first time. Except during her college years, the mother and daughter have never been separated for so long.
Before the court verdict was handed down, on January 29, the Chengyang District People's Court took compulsory measures to release her on bail pending trial, and Zhang Cuiyun was released on the same day. Because Zhang Cuiyun refused to leave the detention center, she was finally carried out of the detention center.
By this time, she had been in the detention center for 288 days and had also been on a hunger strike for 288 days.
After returning home, Li Kemei found that her mother weighed only 70 catties, "more than 120 catties when she entered the detention center." The most troublesome thing is that Zhang Cuiyun has been on hunger strike for a long time, and she is completely unable to eat normal food.
With the help of friends, Li Kemei could only buy nutrient solutions and let her mother take them every day.
After Zhang Cuiyun's health improved slightly, she began to go to the Chengyang District People's Court to ask for an explanation. "I just want to know, why did they release me on bail pending trial?" a person from the court told reporters. "It's because of her age and frailty."
But Zhang Cuiyun didn't buy it.
So, since early March this year, she has lived on the steps of the courthouse. The court felt that there was no problem in the trial process of the case, and Zhang Cuiyun should not live in front of their office building.
On September 12, 2016, the Chengyang District People's Court issued a judgment on the case: Defendant Zhang Cuiyun was innocent.
The court held: "The facts of Zhang Cuiyun's intentional destruction of public property are clear, but the available evidence to determine the value of the damaged goods is unclear. The evidence of the prosecution's accusation that the defendant Zhang Cuiyun constituted the crime of intentional destruction of property is insufficient, and the alleged crime cannot be established."
After receiving the verdict, Zhang Cuiyun did not evacuate the tent from the courthouse. "Since I am innocent, I want to know who is behind my back."
In addition, she also rejected the prosecution's accusation that she was suspected of "allowing others to take drugs" as a clerical error. "It's a legal document, how can it be so irregular?"
Key witness sentenced for perjury
Judging from the court's verdict, Zhang Cuiyun was acquitted because the value of the camera she destroyed could not be determined. The reporter learned that the reason why this issue was unclear in the later stage was because someone made perjury in the early stage.
It should be pointed out that the crime of intentional destruction of property requires that the property constituting the crime reach a certain value. In this case, the value of the camera determines the court's judgment and sentencing of Zhang Cuiyun.
A reporter from the Democracy and Legal Society investigated and found that the person who gave false testimony was named Yu Mouhai, and his identity was the operator of the Runhaisheng Electric Automation Installation Engineering Department (referred to as the Runhaisheng Installation Engineering Department) in Chengyang District, and he was also a villager in Xiaozhaizi Village.
Zhang Cuiyun involved in the six cameras, all due to a sea to undertake the project and installation. I also appeared as a key witness in the court verdict in the case.
In the witness testimonies provided by the People's Procuratorate of Chengyang District to the court, Yu Mouhai's testimonies were crossed in most cases.
Strangely, on August 25, 2015, Yu Haiyin was arrested by the Chengyang District People's Procuratorate on suspicion of perjury in the Zhang Cuiyun case.
On January 5 this year, the prosecution prosecuted him, claiming that Yu Mouhai, as a witness, made false certificates and provided false invoices for important circumstances involving the value of property in the case, which caused a significant change in the value of the damaged property in Zhang Cuiyun's case and seriously hindered the normal litigation activities of judicial organs.
On September 9, 2016, Yu Mouhai was sentenced to one year and two months in prison for committing perjury, and his motive for perjury is currently unknown.
The reporter saw from the court verdict of Zhang Cuiyun's case that there were two ways to say the installation time of the camera that was smashed for the first time, starting from January 2015 and later saying that it was March 2015.
In the court verdict, Yu Mouhai said that three cameras were purchased from Shibei District, but the specific situation of the three machines was not shown in the judgment.
Several other camera manufacturers for Hangzhou Qing'an Company, in a sea said Zhang Cuiyun smashed the camera model, a long GNC5215 (-E), worth 570 yuan, two spherical GNP610-1R (2 million pixels), a total value of 7300 yuan.
But the company's sales manager Yang Xiaoxiao's testimony shows that they have never sold a GNC5215 (-E), GNP610-1R (2 million pixel) camera.
Hangzhou Qing'an company only sold to a sea model for the GNP610-1R (1.30 million pixel) camera, the machine including tax for 1500 yuan; they also sold to a sea of another machine model is GNC5115 (1.30 million pixel), including tax, the price is only 235 yuan.
The two cameras were sold on December 1, 2014.
Yang Xiaoxiao said that on April 13, 2015, he received a call from a sea, asking the company to issue an invoice to Xiaozhaizi Village, the name of the goods is 2 million pixel infrared tube network camera 1, the price is 478 yuan, 2 million pixel infrared network high-speed smart ball machine 2, the price is 11452.99 yuan, and the total price and tax is 13960 yuan.
Mr. Yu told Mr. Yang that the camera he bought from the company had been smashed, but the price agency did not believe him. "In order to protect Yu Mouhai as a customer, we issued an invoice according to the goods, name and model required by Yu Mouhai and mailed it to him," Yang Xiaoxiao said.
And this invoice issued according to the goods, name and model required by a certain sea was accepted as evidence by the prosecution.
On June 8, 2015, Yu Mouhai sent Yang Xiaoxiao a high-end camera and parameters, and asked him to make an invoice according to the parameters, "The valuation was too low before, but now it needs to be high-end, so let the price agency evaluate it higher."
In the court verdict, Yang Xiaoxiao confirmed that in order to recover the payment, he issued an invoice according to Yu Mouhai's requirements. Yu paid 12,420 yuan on the spot. Then, Yu asked Yang to find the product list, warranty card, delivery note and certificate of conformity.
At this time, it had been two months since Zhang Cuiyun smashed the camera for the last time.
Judicial "dark war"
It is worth mentioning that the Qingdao Chengyang District Price Certification Center also issued the "Shandong Province Price Identification (Certification) Certificate" for the above-mentioned cameras on April 13 and 16, 2015, based on some false evidence provided by a certain sea. The total price of the two certificates was 16,870 yuan.
These two appraisal reports became important evidence for the Chengyang Procuratorate to arrest and prosecute Zhang Cuiyun.
The Chengyang District People's Court confirmed that the specifications and models of the materials in the two appraisals did not match the actual situation, and the appraisal opinions were not objectively relevant. They did not recognize the value of the identified items.
On August 18, 2015, after Zhang Cuiyun was detained for four months, the Qingdao Chengyang District Price Certification Center conducted the third appraisal of the items involved, with a total value of 5,522 yuan.
The model of the inspection material identified this time is not only different from the previous two times, but also the Chengyang District Price Certification Center has added all the freight, installation and commissioning fees, net profit, and taxes for the smashed camera.
Zhang Cuiyun disputed the appraisal again.
The Chengyang District Court held that "the Qingdao Price Certification Center needs to be entrusted to make a review and determination." In addition, during the trial of the case, the court has issued a supplementary investigation proposal to the public prosecution office, "suggesting supplementary evidence such as appraisal opinions to determine the value of the items involved in the case." But until the court verdict was issued, the public prosecution office did not transfer this evidence to the court.
The trial time limit of this case no longer allows the court to continue to postpone the trial. Because according to relevant laws, the Qingdao Intermediate Court and the Supreme Court have approved the postponement of the trial for three months each, and the trial time limit has been exhausted.
The People's Procuratorate of Chengyang District believes that the "letter on the entrusted matters in the case of Zhang Cuiyun's intentional damage to public and private property" issued by the Qingdao Price Certification Center can be recognized as the basis for appraisal, and charged that the value of the items involved in the case was 6558.84 yuan.
The People's Court of Chengyang District held that this letter did not meet the requirements of the Criminal Procedure Law on the form of evidence for the appraisal opinion and did not have the legal effect of the appraisal opinion.
Prosecutors maintain that the letter has the force of law.
Therefore, after Zhang Cuiyun was acquitted in the first instance, on September 21, the Chengyang District People's Procuratorate protested: "Defendant Zhang Cuiyun's behavior meets the constituent elements of the crime of intentional destruction of property, and he should be investigated for criminal responsibility for the crime of intentional destruction of property."
The reporter wanted to interview the public prosecutor in this case, but the Chengyang District People's Procuratorate did not respond to relevant questions on the grounds that the prosecutor was transferred to other task forces.
Although Zhang Cuiyun was acquitted in the first trial, she is still a problem for the judicial community in Chengyang District. According to several local officials, Zhang Cuiyun is a difficult petitioner, especially this time she chose to live in front of the court for more than eight months.
The reporter's interview found that the source of Zhang Cuiyun's current embarrassment to the local judiciary is not complicated.
According to Zhang Cuiyun, in the early years, she served as the accountant of the Xiaozhaizi Village Brigade, the deputy director of the village-run enterprise, and in 1994, she also took over the village-run collective enterprise "Laoshan Four Needles" (later renamed Qingdao Chengyang Shengyuan Knitting Factory), which was on the verge of bankruptcy, and served as the legal representative.
According to her, the company had zero cash on its books at the time, "the houses were damaged and leaking rain, the machines were aging, and a large number of workers had not been paid for a long time."
After a series of reforms and adjustments, the company, which was about to go bankrupt, came back to life and created considerable benefits. "At most, I had more than 200 workers under my command," Zhang Cuiyun said. "My wife died early, and it was not easy for me to be a woman with a child, and I had to start the business."
After several years of development, in 2000, she signed a 30-year contract with the village committee to buy out the factory. In 2003, Xiaozhaizi Village began to renovate and demolish the old village, "but the village committee began to fight a lawsuit against the ownership of my factory," Zhang Cuiyun said.
"In December 2004, I had a lawsuit with the village committee about the ownership of the factory. Before the final judgment was reached, the relevant departments auctioned off the factory," Zhang Cuiyun told reporters.
Therefore, she embarked on a long road to petition, and eventually ended up in a criminal lawsuit, which changed her family and her destiny.
Although her daughter Li Kemei has obtained a college degree, she has not yet started a family at the age of 33. Except for her own wholesale flour business, she spends the rest of her time on her mother's affairs.
"Our home has been destroyed, and it's hard to turn back." Li Kemei said that he did not dare to find a boyfriend, "People like me find a partner, which is causing trouble for others."
Every time she talked about her daughter, Zhang Cuiyun would close her eyes tightly and keep sobbing, but she could no longer see tears in the corners of her eyes.
