(Strait Metropolis Daily)  The Case of Yan Xiaoling:  Three Netizens Suspected Of Making False Accusations.  September 2, 2009.

The death of a woman named Yan Xiaoling in Mingqing county was amazingly turned into an Internet post that was circulated broadly on the Internet more than one year later.  Afterwards, the Fuzhou police detained eight netziens who made posts on the Internet.  Among the eight, three are still being held at the detention center and they may be charged with making false accusations.  The other five are currently out on bail.  This Internet case has once again drew public attention.

The post from the netizens told a very tragic story: Yan Xiaoling was threatened by a crime syndicate in Mingqing county and she was then gang-raped to death by eight persons.  When she died, her vagina was ripped and her face showed a hideous expression.  When her family tried to seek justice, the local public security units interfered and intimidated them.  It turned out that the gang leader was a crime gang boss who collaborated with local law enforcement officials to open a KTV ... this post disseminated quickly among the netizens.  People on the Internet were outraged.  The police immediately held a press conference to clarify matters, but the storm did not die down.  Recently our reporter investigated the roles played by these netizens and the reasons why many netizens refused to believe the information released by the police.

In this Mingqing case, the Internet rumor and the statement from the public security bureau were two completely opposite versions.  In the two phases of the debate, the credibility of the police was challenged ... in the views of many people, the death of Yan Xiaoling was a mysterious case.  The "mystery" was that the civilian and official versions were completely different, so that people feel perplexed.

In June this year, Internet posts titled "Yan Xiaoling of Mingqing is ten thousand times more tragic than Deng Yuqiao of Badong" and "Tragic beyond belief: frequent nameless female corpses show up in Mingqing, Yan Xiaoling was gang-raped to death by eight persons" began to show up in forums and QQ groups.  This story quickly became a hot issue for discussion.  The posts told a story.  In this story, there are four distinguishing points that drew attention: First, 25-year-old Yan Xialoling was gang-raped by eight persons and suffered a terrible death.  Secondly, the gang leader was named Nie Zhixiong.  He was the boyfriend of Yan Xiaoling and a leader of a local crime syndicate.  There was no way the deceased and her family could fight back.  Thirdly, local law enforcement officers and the murderers owned and operated a KTV named Lige.  This is a KTV which sells ketamine powder and forces women to prostitute themselves.  It is a way for the owners to make money as well as have access to women.  Ever since the Lige KTV opened up, there have been many anonymous female corpses found in the county.  Fourthly, since important members of law enforcement agencies were in business with the murderers, the police did everything they could to make the family members shut up.  This was a case of gross injustice.

In the posts, the death of Yan Xiaoling was linked via comparison with the well-known Internet case of Deng Yuqiao.  This drew a lot of attention.

On June 24, the Fuzhou public security bureau held an emergency press conference.  The police clarified on a point-by-point basis.  They said that the death of Yan Xiaoling was normal and not a crime at all.

During the press conference, the police made the following points of clarification.  First, the forensic doctor determined that Yan Xiaoling died from an ectopic pregnancy.  She had not been raped.  Secondly, they denied that any members of the Mingqing public security organizations and prosecutorial office were in partnership at the Lige KTV.  They said that Nie Zhixiong was a social idler but not a crime gang leader.  He has no law enforcement background and he is not a partner at the Lige KTV either.  Thirdily, the case was not "shut down" as Yan Xiaoling's mother Lin Xiuying asserted.  Instead, the Mingqing county party committee, the county government and the county public security bureau have visited Lin Xiuying more than twenty times at home to do "thought education."

At the time, many media outlets in Fujian province and the rest of China reported these clarifications from the police.  But more questions were raised on the Internet.  The focii of Internet opinions shifted from sympathy for Yan Xiaoling and the emotional outbursts against the police for being involved with gang leaders to the doubts and denials about the police clarifications, thus supporting the original posts indirectly.

The main focii of the Internet doubts were the following:

1. Since the police said that Yan Xiaoling died as a result of severe hemorrhaging caused by an ectopic pregnancy.  So how old was the embryo?  What was its size?  What not tell us?

2. The police investigation only determined that no human sperm was found in the vagina of Yan Xiaoling.  But this does not preclude the possibility that she was sexually assaulted before her death.  Could sexual violence have caused the uterus to rupture?

3. Who brought Yan Xiaoling to the hospital and then vanished?  Why was nothing said about this person?

4. If Yan died a normal death, why did the doctors at the hospital call the police?

5. It is rumored that there was financial linkage between the Lige KTV and the Mingqing public security bureau.  Why did the local public security bureau not excuse itself from the investigation?

During the process of gathering information, the reporter found that the principal contents of the Yan Xiaoling case were based upon the narrative from her mother Lin Xiuying.  Lin believes that her daughter was gang-raped to death.  Concerning this assertion of "gang-raped to death," our reporter went to Mingqing to conduct an investigation of the cause of death for Yan Xiaoling.

Doubt Number 1: Gang-raped to death, or ectopic pregnancy?

Lin Xiuying said that Yan Xiaoling was gang-raped to death.  The police said that she died from an ectopic pregnancy.  So which version represents the truth?  Yu Shifeng is the forensic doctor for the Mingqing county public security bureau.  He was the first to examine the body of Yan Xiaoling.  According to Yu, it was around 10pm or so on February 11 last year that Yan Xiaoling was pronounced dead at the Mingqing County Hospital when efforts to resuscitate her failed.  Since there was nobody accompanying her at the time, the hospital informed the police.  Thus he became the first forensic doctor to examine Yan's body.

On February 12, he conducted an examination of Yan's body and recorded the preliminary examination results: he did not observe any superficial wounds on the body, there were not contusions and the skull and body did not have any broken bones.

On February 13, at the request of Yan's family, Yu conducted an autopsy of Yan's body.  He opened the skull, chest and stomach.  The first two body parts were normal, but there was a large amount of blood in the latter (about 2,500 milliliters).  As a result, he made the preliminary determination: the deceased may have died as a result of massive internal bleeding.

Yu then found the point of bleeding in Yan's blody -- on the left Fallopian tube, there was a wound that measured 0.8 millimeters by 1.0 millimeters.  He determined from this that the cause of death was a rupture of the Fallopian tube from an ectopic pregnancy that led to massive internal bleeding.  But in order to confirm this, he was missing a very important item -- the embryo.  He said that the embryo could be very small and buried among the accumulated blood.  He did not have the laboratory facilities to confirm the existence of the embryo.

At around 1pm on February 13, in the presence of five family members including the mother and the younger brother, Yu Shifeng extracted the heart, the contents of the vagina, the contents of the stomach, the uterus, the Fallopian tubes and other body organs to forward to the Evidence Testing Centre of the Fujian provincial public security bureau and the Fuzhou city Criminal Scientific Investigation Institute for certain pathology, chemical and biological testing.  The test results showed that the cause of death can exclude violence or poisoning.  Since there were no human sperm found in the vagina, Yan was determined to have died from a rupture of the Fallopian tube as a result of a pregnancy.

The problem that Yu Shifeng had for "not being able to find the embryo" was solved by the testing done by the higher levels of public security bureau.  The Fuzhou city public security bureau crime scientific investigative unit deputy director named Weng told the reporter that the Fujian provincial public security bureau conducted a pathology examination of the left Fallopian tube sent over by Mingqing county and found the fine tissues of the embryo near the rupture wound.  This confirmed that an embryo had existed in the Fallopian tube.  The cause of death of Yan Xiaoling was therefore caused by massive internal bleeding due to a rupture of the Fallopian tube caused by an ectopic pregnancy.

Deputy director Weng added the that the core issue of the embryo could not be located.  But it was possible that it had been carried away into the stomach when the massive bleeding occurred.  The forensic doctor was therefore unable to determine the age or size of the embryo.

However, Yan Xiaoling's mother did not believe that her daughter was pregnant because she had her period a few days before her death.  The Fujian province Children and Women Health Clinic gynecology department director Chen Xiujun told the reporter that an ectopic pregnancy is an accidental pregnancy.  Instead of being inside the uterus, the embryo showed up in the Fallopian tube instead.  The wall lining of the Fallopian tube is much thinner than that of the uterus.  As the embryo grows, it will eventually burst the wall of the Fallopian tube, thus causing massive internal bleeding.

Doubt Number 2: Violent attack before her death?

What did Yan Xiaoling undergo before she died?  Apart from the direct cause of death being the ectopic pregnancy, was there violence?  The reporter confronts these common Internet questions.

The reporter learned that the police had informed Yan Xiaoling's mother Lin Xiuying about the conclusions of the final autopsy report.  However, Lin Xiuying raised some questions and these became the key points for challenging the police conclusions later on.

Doubt 1: Lin Xiuying said that she saw two dark scratch marks on the wrists of Lin Xiaoling.

Doubt 2: She clearly saw that the vagina of Lin Xiaoling was open and not closed.  Furthermore she had a hideous look in death.  If this was a normal death, how could her body look like this?

Doubt 3: If Yan Xiaoling died normally, why did the hospital call the police?

Doubt 4: Why didn't Yan Xiaoling wear underpants when she went to the hospital that day?

Our reporter investigated these doubts.

Liu Yongwen is an emergency room doctor at Mingqing County Hospital.  On the night when Yan Xiaoling died, he was responsible for trying to resuscitate her.  When he was interviewed by our reporter, he said that he did not observe any wound marks on the neck, hands or feet.  He remembered that Yan Xiaoling was wearing pajamas when she was sent to the hospital.  He did not remember whether there were wound marks elsewhere on Yan's body.  The reporter also saw that photos taken at the autopsy the day after the death.  There were no scratches or other wound marks on her neck, wrists or body.

So how did "the expanded vagina" came about?  The reporter asked Lin Xiuying to recall how she inspected the vagina of her daughter at the time.

Lin Xiuying recalled: At around 3 pm on February 13, she examined the naked body of Yan Xiaoling which was lying on a table in the hospital morgue.  The body had been placed on the autopsy table which is about 70 millimeters tall.  She was about half a meter from the body.  She saw that the legs of Yan Xiaoling were spread, with the ankles being about 30 to 40 millimeters apart.  There was a gap about 4 millimeters wide in Yan Xiaoling's vagina.  She said that she did not move up close to inspect the lower body.

Lin Xiuying told the reporter that she was wearing glasses when she examined the body because she has vision impairment.  She said that she took a fall more than ten years ago and injured her ocular nerves.  She cannot see anything with her left eye and has to rely solely on her right eye.  Later, her right eye began to fail too.  So she got a pair of eyeglasses which allowed her to see things barely.

She put on her glasses and stood half a meter away from the reporter.  She said: "I can see the outline of your face, but I cannot see the details."  Then she took one step forward, but she still could not see the face of the reporter.  So what is her vision?  She did not show the report on the vision test that a medical organization had conducted.  She only said, "when I wear the glasses, I can see the first two rows of the vision chart."  In terms of vision, Lin Xiuying is hardly likely to see the condition of her daughter's vagina.  But she insisted firmly that such was the state of her daughter's body as she recalled.  The forensic doctor of the Mingqing county public security bureau did not think that Lin Xiuying was reasonable in her assertion.

He said that the vagina knows how to contract itself.  "In the case of death, the body loses its functions and the body becomes rigid.  That means the vagina won't be able to close by itself."  On the Internet, someone recognized this point.  Therefore, based upon the recollection that "the vagina was still open after death," they concluded that the body of Yan Xiaoling was raped after death.  This was the most sensationalistic part of the Internet posts.

The Mingqing hospital authorities said that it was absurd to allege that the body was raped after death, because nobody could be raping a body inside a hospital emergency room.  The doctor recalled: "According to the records, Yan Xiaoling was taken to the hospital at 10:05pm on February 11 last year.  The doctors tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate her for 30 minutes before pronouncing her death.  Who could be raping her body?"  The gang-rape that Lin Xiuying heard about and the actual time of death of Yan Xiaoling conflicted with each other.

Doubt Number 3: What happened before Yan Xiaoling died?

If Yan Xiaoling's death was normal, why did the hospital call the police?  The Mingqing County Hospital emergency room doctor Liu Yongwen recalled the scene.  It was the night of February 11 last year.  A man carried Yan Xiaoling on his back to the hospital.  As the doctors tried to revive Yan Xiaoling, the man walked out of the hospital.  When the patient passed away, there were were no friends or relatives by her side.  She did not even carry any identification.  Since this was a matter of life and death, the hospital called 110 and told the police.

So what happened?  After many trials and errors, the reporter finally located the man who carried Yan Xiaoling to the hospital on his back -- Lin Xijian and found out about what happened that night.  He was the last person to be with Yan Xiaoling.

40-something-old Lin Xijian is unemployed and has no fixed abode.  He was staying with his friend Nie Zhixiong.  He said that Nie and Yan were lovers.  Before this  happened, he and another friend Huang stayed at the rental room that Nie and Yan shared.  On the early morning of February 11, Yan, Nie and other friends came back from the Lige KTV.  Within half a hour, Yan began to have stomach cramps.  Yan said that she had an upset stomach and she took some medicine.  But the pain did not subside.  Nie Zhixiong wanted to take her down to the hospital but Yan refused.  Lin Xijaing said that in order to take care of the sick Yan Xiaoling, Nie set up a temporary bed next to Yan's bed so that he and Huang can take turns to look after her.  On that evening, Nie and Huang went out, leaving Lin to take care of Yan Xiaoling in the home.  After 9pm, Yan began to say that the pain was getting unbearable.  So Lin picked up the pale Yan to go to the hospital.

But it was not easy for Lin Xijian (who was just over 1.5 meters tall) to carry Yan Xiaoling who was about the same height.  He went first to the clinic, but nobody was there.  He tried to flag down a car on the street, but there were no cars.  So he had to carry Lin on his back and walk to the Mingqing County Hospital.  Lin recalled that it took more than half an hour to get there.  The reason why he walked out of the hospital afterwards was that he worked odd jobs at construction lots and did not have much money.  On that evening, Nie Zhixiong asked him to stay home to look after Yan Xiaoling.  As a friend, he took Yan down to the hospital.  Once there, he had no money and he was afraid that he could only hinder matters.  Therefore, he rushed over to the place where Nie was drinking to tell him to go and take care of matters.

Nie Zhixiong said: Before Yan Xiaoling was taken to the hospital, she was already in bad shape.  When she wanted to use the restroom, he had to pick her up and carry here there.  She kept throwing up too, thus soiling all her underwear.  So he helped her get into her pajamas and bra.  However, there were no clean underpants.  That was why Yan Xiaoling ended up with no underpants.

After these investigations, the reporter found a version that was completely different from that on the Internet posts.  The "tragic beyond belief" case of Yan Xiaoling was certainly different from the one according to the Fuzhou police and also different from the one based upon the facts.  So how was such a story turned from speculations into a clearly delineated Internet post?  How did it arouse such passionate Internet opinions?  Please read the next story of our investigation.

(Strait Metropolis Daily)  The Case of Yan Xiaoling: How the Internet writers interpret things.  September 2, 2009.

The post entitled "Yan Xiaoling of Mingqing is ten thousand times more tragic than Deng Yuqiao of Badong" was re-posted 190,000 times and drew many angry comments from netizens.  Our reporter learned that the contents of the post came from Lin Xiuying, the mother of Yan Xiaoling.  She was not well-educated and does not know anything about computers or the Internet.  Her narrative was produced by three netizens who put a complete and clear story on the Internet.

Afterwards, the three netizens were criminally detained for making the post, and this raised more questions.  Through many efforts, our reporter was able to interview two of these netizens --- Fan Yanxiong and You Jingyou.  When the interviews began, You Jingyou said that the case has entered the judicial process.  Therefore, he would rather not discuss the legalistic aspects of the case.  He was willing to talk to the reporter about how the case ended up on the Internet and how it evolved over time.

So what did these netizens do?  What kind of role did they play in the communication of the Yan Xiaoling case?

Step 1: Seeking help from Internet writers

The narrative of Yan Xiaoling's mother could no longer be separated into genuine memory versus repeated rumors.  Fragments of her narrative contain many contradictions.  Yet the Internet posts were orderly and logical.  Who did she find to write the posts?  According to the information provided by the public security bureau, the post with the biggest impact is "Yan Xiaoling of Mingqing is ten thousand times more tragic than Deng Yuqiao of Badong" who author is Fan Yanxiong.  It was re-packaged by the editor of an overseas website and re-imported back into China among the various Internet forums.  All the information in the post came from the mother of Yan Xiaoling, subject to the rationalization of the Internet writers.

The reporter learned that for the more than one year since the death of Yan Xiaoling, Lin Xiuying had made many petitioned trips based upon the facts that "she personally heard" or that "she personally saw."  She has been to the Mingqing public security bureau alone more than a dozen times.  The conclusion was always the same and Lin Xiuying did not get the "gang rape to death" conclusion that she wanted.

"The problem just could not be solved."  Once Lin Xiuying began to petition, she got to know a group of other petitioners.  In May this year, Lin was introduced by a friend to contact a person who "specialized in petitioning" on behalf of people.  The name of this person was Fan Yanxiong, who claimed to be a civilian human rights defender.

Lin Xiuying said that she told the story to Fan Yanxiong and provided the telephone numbers of "Mingqing public security bureau crime investigation division commander Lin (who was actually the current Mingqing public security bureau deputy director)" and the secretary of the political and legal commission.  There was also a photo of Yan Xiaoling taken in the morgue one month after her death, showing signs of severe skin and muscle withering.

Fan Yanxiong told the reporter about what happened between her meeting with Lin Xiuying and the writing of the post: In May this year, she received a call from Lin Xiuying who asked her to meet in person about the death of her daughter Yan Xiaoling as a result of gang rape.  But the meeting was delayed until June 21 in Fuzhou.  Fan Yanxiong remembered that Lin Xiuying showed her the photos, the forensic doctor's report and other materials.  Everything else was based upon oral narration.  Based upon what Lin Xiuying told her, the post was written and printed on June 22.  After Lin Xiuying confirmed that there was no error, she emailed the post and the photos to the editor of a certain overseas website which published them.

On June 23, there appeared a post written by Fan Yanxiong entitled "Fujian Mingqing police and thugs gang raped 26-year-old young woman to death and continued to rape the corpse afterwards -- no way to complain about this tragedy."  This was quickly re-posted in many popular Internet forums in China.  Fan Yanxiong used the pen name "Yan Han" for this post.

This happened just a few dozen hours after Fan Yanxiong met with Lin Xiuying.  Fan Yanxiong said that there was no need for her to verify the facts.  She said that during Lin Xiuying's narration of the death of her daughter, she was crying and emotionally moved.  This made Fan Yanxiong certain that Lin was telling the truth.  Fan Yanxiong said that she is a "very emotional" person and therefore she has no doubt about the narrative given by Lin Xiuying.

But on the other hand Fan Yanqiong claimed to have certain knowledge about the law "and even did business negotiations for renowned corporations."  After being arrested, Fan Yanqiong had stated that it was "inappropriate" to make Internet posts without verifying the facts.

Step 2: The voices grew

According to the investigation by the public security bureau, there were three versions of the post on the same day when the first post appeared.  These were then re-posted a total of 190,000 times.  This is not even counting the number of comments.  The Fuzhou public security bureau quickly responded and described the facts of the case.  But this response drew a strong reaction on the Internet.  For example, the posts said: "The basement on the right side of the broadcast television station not far away from the Lige KTV is actually an extension of the entertainment outlet" and "ever since this KTV opened, anonymous female corpses have been frequently found."  The police stated that there was no such "basement" in that building and that there has been no murders in Mingqing in the brief two months or so that the Lige KTV had opened for business.  However, people kept talking on the Internet.

The netizens did not trust the police because of a doubt that came from the Internet: Why did the Mingqing public security bureau not excuse themselves from the investigation when they are under "suspicion" themselves?  This caused the netizens to link this case with the other famous Internet cases such as "Eluding the Cat" and "Doingo push-ups".  This increased the lack of trust.

Our reporter interviewed deputy director Lin of the Mingqing county public security bureau who was mentioned in the Internet posts.  Deputy director Lin told our reporter: Lin Xiuying believed all along that her daughter had died as a result of gang rape and therefore she made petitions at the local petition office.  On the third day after the death of Yan Xiaoling (namely, February 13, 2009), the Mingqing public security bureau conducted an autopsy of the body of the body of Yan Xiaoling at the request of the family members.  The Fuzhou city and the Fujian provincial law enforcement agencies also issued the final pathology reports.  All had the same conclusion that Yan Xiaoling had died as a result of massive internal bleeding as a result of the rupture of the Fallopian tube due to an ectopic pregnancy.  But Yan's mother Lin Xiuying was not satisfied with this outcome and made many petition trips.  The Mingqing county public security bureau had to dispatch police officers to investigate all those who had contact with Yan Xiaoling before her death.  The results basically eliminated any possibility of gang rape.

Therefore, there was no issue about whether they should have excused themselves from investigating the case.

By the time that the posts began to state explicitly that "the Mingqing public security people were partners with Nie Zhixiong in the KTV," it was more than one year after the death of Yan Xiaoling.  The repeated investigations over more than one year all came to the same conclusion.  But many netizens continued to regard the immediate entrance of the Mingqing police into the investigation of the case as "destruction of evidence."

Step 3: The video was posted on the Interent

On June 24, the Fuzhou city public security bureau called a press conference that included media organizations inside and outside of Fujian province.  They made their clarifications on the cause of death of Yan Xiaoling.  On the next day, almost all of the Fuzhou media carried the full story.

But the rumors did not stop.  Instead, it drew "rational" doubts from netizens.

You Jingjou was one of them.  He is a 40-something-old engineering who is responsible for production safety in major construction projects.  He said that he had seen the posts about Yan Xiaoling and thought that the posts contained certain exaggerated and inaccurate points.  He also read the authoritative information from the police.  But he "still wanted to made some amendments to the inappropriate parts of the posts."

You Jingyou thought that in order to question the information from the public security bureau, it is necessary to make an objective statement.  After the police made their clarification, he thought that the mother of Yan Xiaoling deserved the same opportunity as the government departments to make her own statement.  So he produced the video in which Lin Xiuying told her story.  The video was edited and posted on the Internet.  This became a "press conference" with a diametrically opposite perspective.  So he and several friends contacted Lin Xiuying.  They took her home and filmed a video.  During their investigation, the police learned that Wu Huaying who was filming with You Jingyou kept interrupting the filming and "instructing Lin Xiuying to be more lively and touching."  You Jingyou said that the video that he took was mostly the statements made by Lin Xiuying and her elder brother.  After the overseas website got a hold of this video, they added sub-titles such as "gang raped to death" and posted it on the Internet.

The reporter found that there were are many netizens like You Jingyou who looked up Lin Xiuying to confirm the details.  However, they only sought Lin Xiuying out for confirmation and no one else.  On the other side, the reporter learned from the public security bureau that the targets of "accusation" in those Internet posts included the secretary of the political and legal commission of Mingqing county as well as the police investigators.  These people were subjected to "human flesh search" by the netizens.  Their family details and private information were published.  They kept receiving abusive telephone calls from strangers.  Their lives became hellish from the continuous harassment.

How the story was made logical

In the narrative of Lin Xiuying, there were many places that were contradictory or against commonsense.  But they became cleared up in the posts to the point of being made logically impeccable.  How did ambiguity become clarity?  Here is Lin Xiuying's account: At 4pm on the afternoon of February 10, 2008, Yan Xiaoling received several calls from Nie Zhixiong.  At the time, Lin Xiuying heard that Nie wanted her daughter to go to the Lige KTV and "get girls" for the friends of Nie.  Lin Xiuying did not want her daughter to do that sort of things.  But the daughter refused and said, "I am doing this for the good of my two younger brothers."

Our reporter confirmed that Lin Xiuying did not like Nie Zhixiong.  She said that "Nie is a bum who did heroin.  He is not a decent fellow."  She detested that person "whom she did not even want to let inside the home."  The police as well as Nie Zhixiong's father confirmed that Nie did invite Yan Xiaoling.  At the same time, Nie Zhixiong "had a wife but still fooled around with other women frequently.  He had been forced to quit drugs after being caught using heroin."

In writing the post, Fan Yanqiong rationalized Nie Zhixiong to be a "underworld gang boss" and let Yan Xiaoling meet with him against the wishes of her mother.  This is the same logic in gangster movies.

Lin Xiuying's narrative: After her daughter's death, several "shady" characters came to bring her the news.  She heard that there were eight people who were singing with Yan Xiaoling at the Lige KTV that night.  Several days after the death of her daughter, she heard the street talk that her daughter had been gang-raped to death.  But the forensic doctor said that her daughter had died from an ectopic pregnancy.  She refused to believe this because the daughter just had her period a short while ago.

Our reporter confirmed that the police investigation found that eight or nine people were at the Lige KTV on the night before Yan Xiaoling died.  These people came and went through the night, some of them bringing girlfriends.  By the time Yan Xiaoling left, there were three men with her including Nie Zhixiong.  Yan Xiaoling died from an ectopic pregnancy.  According to a gynecologist: since the embryo was not in the uterus, it is possible to have a small amount of bleeding which resembled monthly period discharge.

In writing the post, the men who were with Yan Xiaoling became the murderers; Yan Xiaoling was murdered but the forensic doctor said that it was due to an ectopic pregnancy; this showed that there was an interest link between the "gang boss" Nie Zhixiong and the police; rumor upon rumor then became the police joining with Nie to own and operate the Lige KTV and providing a protective umbrella for a place which sold drugs and promoted prostitution.

(Tiger Temple)  November 7, 2009.

I returned from Guangzhou to Beijing on the afternoon of November 6.  For the past two days, I have been busy organizing and studying the materials for the case of Fujian netizens making false charges.  The more I read, the harder it was for me to stay calm.

It is so hard to be nice!  Helping a petitioner write something leads to prosecution for making false charges.

Lin Xiuying is the mother of Yan Xiaoling.  This sorry woman has been petitioning for more than a year.  Although it is known that the problems that she exposed are non-existent, no government or judicial department has ever thought of prosecuting her with making false charges.  Why?

If the three Fujian netizens did not hold sympathy for her, they would not have helped her make her voice known and then they would not be prosecuted for making false charges.  So doing a good deed leads to a bad ending!

After reading the case materials, I cannot understand why Fan Yanqiong became the fabricator when the material in the essay came from Lin Xiuying?  Why did You Jingyou and Wu Huaying became the fabricators when all they did was make a video of Lin Xiuying speaking?

Lin Xiuying told the investigator that she met a middle-aged woman Sister Fan (=Fan Yanqiong) when she went to petition at the provincial government office.  Fan Yanqiong read her petition materials and said, "This material won't work.  You have to be clearer.  You need to find someone who understands the law.  You tell them how your daughter died, as well as the police investigation.  He can re-write the material."  Lin Xiuying did not get a telephone number from Fan, who nevertheless got Lin's number.

Lin Xiuying said that Fan Yanqiong called up one day and said that she wanted to know how Yan Xiaoling died.  Fan Yanqiong asked Lin Xiuying to come to Fuzhou city.  Lin Xiuying said that she is still living in Minqing county where it would take one hour to reach Fuzhou city.  Fan Yanqiong said, "I don't even help others who beg me.  You are lucky to come across me.  If you don't come, then I can't wait any longer.  I am leaving immediately."

Some time later, Fan Yanqiong came to Fuzhou city again and once again she called Lin Xiuying to say that she wanted to learn more about the death of Yan Xiaoling.  Lin agreed.  But she was afraid that she might be conned, so she asked her elder brother to accompany her.  After all, she has only met Fan Yanqiong only once before.

At the meeting, Lin Xiuying told Fan Yanqiong about the death of her daughter Yan Xiaoling as well as her personal doubts.  Fan Yanqiong helped to write an essay for Lin Xiuying.  She printed the essay and read it out aloud to Lin Xiuying.  After obtaining the consent of Lin Xiuying and her brother, Fan posted the essay on the Internet.

Lin Xiuying said that Fan Yanqiong did not charge a single cent for writing the essay.  In fact, Fan had an argument with the copy shop owner for over-charging the copies.

Lin Xiuying said that she is illiterate.  She does not know anything about computers.  She only heard from other petitioners that materials posted on the Internet may gain the attention of the relevant departments.  She got Fan Yanqiong to write the essay in order to gain government attention to deal with the death of her daughter.  Lin Xiuying said that You Jingyou and Wu Huaying made the video for the same purpose.

In the notes taken down by the investigator, Lin Xiuying said that the allegations in Fan Yanqiong's essay came from what she heard from her daughter or other persons.  The investigators asked her how she learned about the collusion between the police and the gang: running a KTV; selling ketamine powder; providing prostitutes; coercing girls to become prostitutes; sharing the profits; etc.  Lin Xiuying replied that she overheard her daughter Yan Xiaoling speaking about these subjects on the phone when alive.

The investigators asked her about "the Lige KTV in Mingqing county, Fujian province is an entertainment which sells ketamine powder, provides prostitution, coerces girls to become prostitutes and makes extraordinary profits, thus ruining the lives of an untold number of girls ... how did you know about it?"  Lin Xiuying said that this was what her daughter Yan Xiaoling said while alive.

Lin Xiuying said that she did not try to investigate or understand these problems.  Lin then relayed these hearsays to Fan Yanqiong, who wrote them into the essay without any attempt to verify.  So Fan was at most disseminating rumors but she did not made them up herself.

Lin Xiuying said that You Jingyou and Wu Huaying did not tell her how to fabricate or edit any facts during the making of the video.  You Jingyou and Wu Huaying only let Lin Xiuying speak her own mind.  If Lin Xiuying was inaccurate, then the two are only guilty of dissemination but not fabrication.

When You Jingyou saw Fan Yanxiong's essay on the Internet and went to ask Lin Xiuying to make a video, the Fuzhou city public security bureau had already held a press conference.  At the press conference, the public security bureau clarified that Yan Xiaoling had died from a ectopic pregnancy.  The video was produced after this press conference.  The public security bureau said that You Jingyou and Wu Huaying knew the cause of death but still got Lin Xiuying to make this video and let her say that Yan Xiaoling died as a result of a gang rape.  This was fabrication.  The position of the public security bureau is very clear: the press conference information is correct and not subject to challenge.

Are press conference statements 100% accurate?  Do the people have no right to raise doubts?

This reminded me of the death of Guangxi judge Li Chaoyang in April 2007.  After judge Li died in a detention cell, the Guangxi Autonomous Region government police/procuratorate conducted an investigation which included an autopsy.  The conclusion was sudden death.  The Guilin city government called a press conference to say that it was a sudden death.  But the family refused to accept this conclusion.  After many judicial examinations, it was determined that it was not a sudden natural death.  Even so, the finding could not be reversed.  Then another prisoner on death row made a denunciation to reveal the truth, in which judge Li was beaten to death by fellow inmates.  It was only then that the persons involved were prosecuted.  The "Elude the Cat" case in Yunnan was similar when the public security bureau made an initial finding but the truth emerged due to widespread doubts.  That means that citizens have the right to question the position of the judiciary.

Based upon the known facts, I find it hard to believe that Yan Xiaoling died as a result of gang rape.  But some of the issues raised by Lin Xiuying has not yet been addressed.  Although Lin Xiuying's story is completely at odds with that of the public security bureau, people can still raise questions about any story.  If you report something that is at odds with the truth, you are guilty of making a false charge.  So if the press conference announcement is true, then any challenges to it is making a false charge.  But in the case of the sudden death of Li Chaoyang, any reporter who reported the press conference announcement will have made a false charge given the truth that was to emerge later?  This kind of view is clearly wrong and absurd.

In the case of Yan Xiaoling, Fan Yanqiong, You Jingyou and Wu Huaying were "acting" as civil reporters.  Their essay/video did not intend to make false charges.  They did not fabricate anything.  If the contents of the essay/video damaged certain people, it is just a civil lawsuit.  Has any media reporter ever been charged with a crime for inaccurate reporting?

The prosecutor's case made this a crime committed jointly by several persons.  Lin Xiuying who made the inaccurate petition is free for now while other "accomplices" are free on bail.  So only Fan Yanqiong, You Jingyou and Wu Huaying are being put on trial for making false charges.  Is the law being enforced fairly and justly?  How can it be like this?

(Liu Xiaoyuan's blog)

At 7:00am on November 11, I and lawyers Li Fangping and Jin Guangyong went by car to Mawei District.  In Mawei District, we ate breakfast.  We arrived at the courthouse at 8:10am.

Outside the Mawei courthouse, seventy to eighty people were waiting.  Outside the entrance, people lined up to enter.  I observed that one person held more than a dozen passes to distribute to others, so he seemed to be a team leader.

At 8:15am, we entered the courthouse using our court summons and lawyer identification.  As we went up to the security gate, the court police officer demanded to inspect our bags.  I objected.  According to Supreme Court regulations, lawyers do not have to undergo security inspection as long as they have lawyer licenses.  This is a special privilege that the Supreme Court accords to lawyers.

The court police officer said that he needed to consulted his superiors.  So we had to wait outside the security gate.

While waiting, I saw that other spectators were being registered at a window next to the security gate.  I noticed that someone produced a police pass.  So many of the passes were issued to police officers, which was why many reporters could not get passes.

When I saw that the prosecutor was already seated, I asked the court police officer to get us admitted as well.  The officer asked us to wait.  Then a tall court police officer came and said that we did not have to be inspected, but we would have to open out bags for a glance.  I said that even a glance is an inspection.  This court police officer emphasized repeatedly that this was not an inspection.

At my insistence, the court police officer said that we can skip security inspection if we can prove that lawyers don't have to do so.  I said, You need to show the regulations that lawyers have to be inspected.  A dispute ensued.  A female court police officer asked us not to be upset.  It was near opening time.  The female court police officer told us to enter.  She reminded us not to make any recordings and to respect the court rules.  I said that I will definitely respect the court rules but the court must also respect the legal rules too.

We entered the court room.  We arranged our case materials and then the sessions began.  It was 8:40am.  It was 10 minutes later than scheduled.

After the court was declared in session, the three defendants were brought into the court room.  Fan Yanqiong was wheeled in on a wheelchair by court police officers.  When she saw her daughter in the gallery, she got excited and yelled that she wanted to hug her daughter.  She began to cry aloud.

When Wu Huaying saw her daughter and her mother in the gallery, she was also very emotionally excited.  Wu Huaying asked the judge again and again, "Can you judge independently?"

You Jingyou saw his wife and daughter in the gallery.  He managed to control his emotions.

Since Fan Yanqiong and Wu Huaying got emotionally upset, the chief judge had to call for a 5 minute rest.  The three defendants were taken into the rest room.  The defendants' lawyers worked to calm them down.

At around 9am, the chief judge announced that court will resume.

The chief judge inquired about the basic situation with the defendants Fan Yanqiong, You Jingyou and Wu Huaying about whether they had received the charge sheet, etc.

After the chief judge informed the defendants about their rights, Wu Huaying got emotionally excited and asked the judges repeatedly, "Can you judge independently?"

The defense lawyers saw that Wu Huaying and You Jingyou were handcuffed, and they asked the court to have the devices removed.  The chief judge agreed and asked the court police officers to remove the handcuffs.

At 9:14am, the prosecutor began to read the indictment document.

At 9:22am, the prosecutor read to the point where the defendant Fan Yanqiong fabricated facts.  Fan Yanqiong lost control of her emotions and accused the prosecutor of ignoring the facts and making false accusations.

At 9:25am, Fan Yanqiong became calmer and said that she has not taken medicine today.  So the court police officer brought her mineral water to take with her medicine.  Fan Yanqiong was in poor health when she was arrested.  After being taken into the detention center, she went on a hunger strike for several days.  When the lawyer met her the first time, she was already unable to walk.  She was wheeled into the meeting room.  The lawyer brought up her health condition with the detention center, which sent her to the hospital for treatment.

At 9:31am, the prosecutor read to the point about the lowly methods of the three defendants.  Fan Yanqiong lost control of her emotions and threw a fit.  She said that she wrote the essay in sympathy for Lin Xiuying and in the hope of gaining government attention.  She had no other intention, and she never received a cent from Lin Xiuying.  Wu Huaying was also very excited as she accused the prosecutor of smearing her character.  You Jingyou was also resentful of this accusation which he thought had no factual basis.

Fan Yanqiong became increasingly excited.  She started cursing and the scene went out of control.  At 9:34am, the chief judge asked Fan Yanqiong to be removed by the court police officers to restore public order.  When Wu Huaying continued to condemn the prosecutor, the chief judge asked the court police officers to remove her as well.  Seeing his two co-defendants removed, You Jinghyou asked to withdraw as well.  The chief judge said, "If you leave as well, you will be held under detention."

I objected to what the chief judge said.  When a case has not yet been judged, how can continued detention be held?  The judge could not know unless the outcome of the case has already been decided.

After all three defendants exited, we said that the hearing could not continue without them.  The chief judge said, "They lost control of their emotions and violated court rules.  It is impossible to continue unless they are removed."  I said, "They lost control of their emotions temporarily.  They will calm down after they are taken away.  They should be brought back so that the session can continue."  The chief judge accepted this opinion and told the court police officers to bring the defendants back.

Fan Yanqiong said in court that her essay was based upon what Lin Xiuying told her and she did not fabricate any facts.  She did so out of sympathy. 

You Jingyou and Wu Huaying said that their video was based upon what Lin Xiuying and her brother said, and they did not fabricate any facts.  They also did so out of sympathy.  They posted the video on the Internet in order to draw government attention so that the case of the death of Yan Xiaoling can be dealt with.

In presenting the evidence, the prosecutor divided the sixteen volumes into four sections.  In presenting the first section, the prosecutor did not read out any content that was positive for the defendants.  The defendants' lawyers objected.  The defendants also objected to this method of presentation.  Since there was a great deal of disagreement, the chief judge announced an adjournment so that the prosecutors and defense lawyers can exchange opinions.

After the court session resumed, the prosecutor continued with this style of presentation and the objections were denied.

With respect to the evidence presented by the prosecutors, my viewpoint was that it proved that Fan Yanqiong, You Jingyou and Wu Huaying did not fabricate anything.  If these are was a case of making false charges, the perpetrator should be Lin Xiuying.  In the statement to the police, Lin Xiuying admitted that she provided the contents of the essay of Fan Yanxiong.

To the prosecutor, the people must believe what the public security bureau said at the press conference and harbor no more doubts.  This position is risible.  I used the examples of the death of Guangxi judge Li Yang and the "elude the cat" incident in Yunnan to rebut that viewpoint.

The prosecutor had another subconscious viewpoints that our public security officers obey the law and cannot possibly participate in prostitution and drug-dealing, or run a KTV with gangsters.  I rebutted this view with the example of the anti-crime campaign in Chongqing.

On November 5, the lawyers asked the court to have Lin Xiuying and Lin Adide attend the trial.  They also notified the 57 witnesses in the case to attend.  Fan Yanqiong and Wu Huaying also asked the court several times to have Lin Xiuying appear as a witness.  The court did not grant the request.

Lin Xiuying was waiting outside the courthouse all day and hoped to enter the court and participate in the session.  But she was still outside when we left around 8:00pm in the evening.  Lin Xiuying has said many times that the defendants were arrested for helping her.  Yan Xiaoling's body will stay unburied as long as the defendants are jailed.  This unfortunate daughter of Lin Xiuying has the conscience to tell good from bad.

During the court hearing, the ailing Fan Yanqiong took medicine.  The doctor gave her oxygen and measured her blood pressure.  I sensed that Fan Yanqiong may be having some mental problems as a result of going through this case.

In the courtroom, there were one large camera and two smaller cameras.  But I don't think that they belong to the media.  According to information, the local media were not allowed to attend.

During the noon recess, the court provided free lunch to the lawyers and other specators.

At 7:40pm, the court session finally ended.  No verdict was announced.

When we got out of the courthouse, we found that it was raining hard outside.  After we left for a while, lawyer Lin Hongnan received a telephone call from the chief judge to say that the lawyers must be present when the defendants make their signatures on the court transcript.  So we had to return to the courthouse.  By the time we witnessed the defendants sign the court transcripts, it was 9:00 pm already.  We could not find any taxis, so we took the bus back to Fuzhou city.  By the time we finished dinner and returned to the hotel, it was past 10:00pm.

As I finish up this essay, I must mention the performances of the judges and the court police.  My observation is that they are sympathetic with the three defendants.  They treated Fan Yanqiong very well.

The prosecutor was also quite restrained in the face of the diatribes from Fan Yanqiong and Wu Huaying.  Regrettably, when Lin Hongnan wanted to review the prosecution process, the prosecutor said that Wu Huaying expressed dissatisfaction with the government in QQ chat sessions.  A female prosecutor got upset with what Lin Honghan said and she said that she never said anything like that and she found fault with the fact that Lin Hongnan is 70 years old.  Astonishingly she said, "You are talking nonsense."

I asked the chief judge to stop the prosecutor from using uncivilized language.  Even if Lin Hongnan was wrong, the prosecutor cannot abuse him verbally in court.  The two prosecutors are carrying out their duties and they cannot decide whether the three defendants are guilty on their own.  If they are criticized in court by the defendants, they cannot take it out on the lawyers.  This prosecutor is young and so I will not name her.  I hope that she will pay more attention to using civilized language in order to maintain the image of the procuratorate as being just, fair, civilized and law-abiding.  Of course, I must examine myself.  I have a small stature, but I talk very loud.  However I do not use uncivilized language.

This court hearing is actually a good lesson about the legal system.  I believe that the young court police officers who were in the gallery can feel how hard it is hard for the people.

The situation is in the court was too complicated, so many details will have to be described later.

This case contains many problems about how the police obtained the evidence.  This is seriously violating the <People's Republic of China Criminal Prosecution Laws> and <The Procedural Regulations for the Public Security Organization in Handling Criminal Cases>.  The prosecutor claimed that the case was handled by a special investigation unit.  I asked the prosecutor where this special investigation unit came from?  Mawei district?  Fuzhou city?  Fujian province?  The prosecutor was silent.  This was not a major violent crime.  This was just a case of false charges made in two Internet essays and one video.  Why was it necessary to form a special investigation unit?  Isn't that overkill?

Finally I characterize this case in three phrases: too absurd (when someone writes an essay or makes a video while not fabricating any content and not having any intent to make false charges, they nevertheless become criminally liable); too ridiculous (there is not a single piece of evidence that the essay writer or the video producer fabricated any facts; and the accessories are prosecuted but not the principal); too scary (a directive from a government official was enough to mobilize the police to arrest you; if you dare defend the rights of petitioners and expose local scandal, you end up in jail; it would be a wonder if you are frightened).