"Joking" in the name of April Fool's Day has no legal "immunity"

Brief facts of the case

Recently, the Chaoyang Court in Beijing explained a case triggered by a prank. On April 1, 2019, when Wu was on duty with his wife Xie, he wrote a handwritten "threatening letter" asking the hospital Zhong to put 600,000 yuan in cash in the flower platform next to a bus stop, otherwise he would not let his two sons go. Zhong found the letter and called the police. After the police arrested Wu, Wu said that because it was April Fool's Day, he wanted to make a joke with Zhong, but he did not expect the consequences to be so serious. In the end, the court convicted Wu of extortion and sentenced him to 3 years and 6 months in prison and a fine of 10,000 yuan.

Lawyer interpretation

There is no legal "immunity" on April Fool's Day, and some jokes during April Fool's Day are not allowed.

1. Do not insult or humiliate others in the name of April Fool's Day.

Article 42 of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law: Whoever commits any of the following acts shall be detained for not more than 5 days or fined not more than 500 yuan; if the circumstances are more serious, he shall be detained for between 5 days and 10 days, and may also be fined not more than 500 yuan:

(1) Writing threatening letters or using other methods to threaten the personal safety of others;

(2) Blatantly insulting others or fabricating facts to slander others;

(3) Fabricating facts to falsely accuse and frame others, in an attempt to make others subject to criminal prosecution or to receive public security administrative penalties;

(4) Threatening, insulting, beating, or retaliating against witnesses and their close relatives;

(5) Repeatedly sending obscene, insulting, intimidating, or other information, interfering with the normal lives of others;

(6) Peeping, secretly filming, eavesdropping, or disseminating the privacy of others.

Article 246 of the Criminal Law: Whoever, by violence or other means, openly insults another person or fabricates facts to slander another person, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, public surveillance or deprivation of political rights.

2. Do not extort others in the name of April Fool's Day.

Article 274 of the Criminal Law stipulates that whoever extorts public or private property in a relatively large amount or extorts money multiple times shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance, and shall also be fined or fined alone; if the amount is huge or there are other serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and shall also be fined; if the amount is particularly large or there are other particularly serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years and shall also be fined.

Therefore, the lawyer reminds that the "joke" made on April Fool's Day should not break the law. April Fool's Day jokes should be moderate, small fights can increase the fun of the holiday, but jokes that touch the edge of the law cannot be opened, and April Fool's Day jokes are not exempt from liability after breaking the law.

Source: Jinan Daily