There have been new developments in the abduction of the son of Guo Gangtang, the prototype of the protagonist of the movie "Orphaned". On the morning of July 7, the case of Hu Fuji and Tang Lixia abducting and selling children opened in the first instance at the Liaocheng Intermediate People's Court in Shandong Province, and the court announced that it would announce the verdict at a later date.
Since September 21, 1997, when Guo Gangtang's two-and-a-half-year-old son Guo Xinzhen was abducted at his doorstep, Guo Gangtang finally waited for this day.
Like Andy Lau's "Lei Zekuan" in the movie "Orphaned", since 1999, Guo Gangtang has rode a motorcycle to various places to find his son, and has traveled all over the country in ten years, scrapping 9 motorcycles.
Two years ago, in July, 24 years after his son was abducted, Guo Gangtang's son was recovered by the police, and two suspects, a man and a woman, who had abducted his son, were also arrested.
According to CCTV news reports, during the trial that day, the Liaocheng People's Procuratorate in Shandong Province alleged: Between 1997 and 1998, defendants Hu Fuji and Tang Lixia abducted Guo Gangtang's son Guo Xinzhen and four other children for the purpose of selling; In 2001, Hufuji abducted a child for the purpose of selling. Hu Fuji and Tang Lixia should be investigated for criminal responsibility for the crime of abducting and selling children, and the other should be dealt with separately.
After finding the child, Guo Gangtang once thought that "asceticism" had reached the end, and his heart slowly became calmer. However, with the arrival of the trial, Guo Gangtang's mood fluctuated again. During the trial, Guo Gangtang said he shed tears many times. Until the end of the trial, when he walked out of the courthouse and was surrounded by cameras, he still claimed that he "couldn't calm down."
After more than five hours of trial, Guo Gangtang's face could not hide his exhaustion, and his voice was a little trembling, "I still hope to severely punish human traffickers." ”
On July 7, 2023, Guo Gangtang, as a close relative of the victim, arrived at the Liaocheng Intermediate People's Court in Shandong Province to participate in the trial. Screenshot of the Beijing News live broadcast
There were many tears in court
After more than five hours of trial, Guo Gangtang, his relatives, and his lawyer walked out of the Liaocheng Intermediate People's Court in Shandong Province. Facing the crowd of reporters, Guo Gangtang said that the first trial did not usher in a result, and the case will be pronounced at a later date.
Guo Gangtang's face could not hide his exhaustion, and he bluntly said that his "mood has not been able to calm down." Since receiving the notice of the court's trial, Guo Gangtang has been sleeping peacefully, but he can barely hold up his smiling face in front of his family. But from the moment he arrived at the trial, he could not control his excitement.
During the trial, Guo Gangtang cried many times. When listening to the prosecutor's statement of the case, watching the defense lawyer explain the evidence he provided, and when he made his own statement of the case, Guo Gangtang said that he was in tears.
Guo Gangtang said that after receiving the notice from the court, he found Gao Weixiao, a lawyer he had known for many years, and entrusted him to file a criminal incidental civil lawsuit, hoping to pursue the criminal and civil liability of the people involved in the case according to law. Before the trial, Gao Weixiao received materials compiled by Guo Gangtang, all related to his years of experience in finding children. Gao Weixiao used these as evidence and stated them one by one during the trial.
At about 8:20 a.m. on the 7th, Guo Gangtang appeared at the door of the court, and he participated in the trial with his brother and sister-in-law. They have waited too long since the child was abducted on 21 September 1997.
The day before the trial, Guo Gangtang also posted a video on social media, saying, "Abduction is a crime beyond murder, and I hope that tomorrow's trial will severely punish traffickers." ”
The two defendants involved in the case are Hu Fuji and Tang Lixia. According to CCTV news reports, in 2021, under the direct command of the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security and the strong cooperation of the public security organs in Henan and Shanxi, the Shandong public security organs successfully cracked the "1997.9.21" Guo Xinzhen abduction case in Liaocheng and arrested the two.
On the morning of July 13, 2021, the Ministry of Public Security reported on the detection of the abduction case of the prototype of the movie "Orphaned", saying that in September 1997, the couple traveled to Shandong together, during which they planned to abduct and sell a boy for the sake of wealth. On September 21, the two fled to Liaocheng, Shandong, Hu Fuji waited near the bus station, and Tang Lixia went out to find the target of the crime, took Guo Xinzhen, who was playing alone in front of his home, and then returned to Henan by long-distance bus with Hu Fuji, and Hu Fuji sold Guo Xinzhen.
According to CCTV news reports, the Liaocheng People's Procuratorate in Shandong Province alleged: Between 1997 and 1998, defendants Hu Fuji and Tang Lixia abducted Guo Gangtang's son Guo Xinzhen and four other children for the purpose of selling; In 2001, Hufuji abducted a child for the purpose of selling.
During the trial on the same day, the victim's close relatives, the accompanying plaintiff and agent ad litem in the civil lawsuit, the defendants Hu Fuji, Tang Lixia and their defenders attended the court to participate in the lawsuit.
Gao Weixiao said that it is precisely because of the solid evidence in the past that the two will be transferred to the public prosecution for review and prosecution. In his view, the case is currently progressing smoothly, but everything needs to wait for the final outcome of the court.
On July 11, 2021, the public security organs of Shandong and Henan held a recognition ceremony for Guo Gangtang and Guo Zhen's family in Liaocheng, Shandong Province, and the families separated for 24 years were finally reunited. Source: The official WeChat of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ministry of Public Security
"Two suspects plead badly"
In court, however, "the two suspects did not plead well," Mr. Gao said. This made Guo Gangtang's emotions even more excited, and his words were full of sadness and indignation.
Guo Gangtang revealed some details of the trial to the media. Tang Lixia admitted that she seduced Guo Xinzhen by herself, but the tools of the crime such as candy and car toys were put into her pocket by Hu Fuji, and Guo Xinzhen was later sold by Hu Fuji, and she did not know about it.
Hu Fuji said that the child was brought to Henan by Tang Lixia and sold by others, and he did not participate in the whole process.
According to the Ministry of Public Security's 2021 notification, Hu Fuji is a native of Linzhou, Henan Province, who is 58 years old this year and has multiple criminal records. According to the verdicts, Hufuji was sentenced to three years in prison for theft in 1988 and eight months for extortion in 1996, and was also involved in other child trafficking cases.
According to CCTV news reports, when the police investigating the abduction of Guo Gangtang's son locked up Hu Fuji, he was detained in a detention center in Shanxi on suspicion of another child abduction and trafficking case. In fact, when Hu Fuji was first interrogated by police officers in Liaocheng, Shandong, he denied involvement in the trafficking of Guo Xinzhen or that he had been to Shandong in 1997. However, Feng Jida, head of the criminal investigation brigade of the Economic Development District of the Liaocheng Public Security Bureau, said that the police found relevant clues in Hufuji's hometown. In the album in his hometown house, a photo of the Confucius Temple was found in the background, and some tickets for the Confucius Temple were found in his purse, also around 1997, confirming that he had arrived in Liaocheng, Shandong. In addition, the investigators also found a traffic atlas published in 1997, in which the page of the map of Shandong was torn open, indicating that he had turned over the map of Shandong a lot, and the side confirmed that Hu Fuji had been to Shandong.
But in court, Hufuji still denied committing the crime. The attitude of the two people made it difficult for Guo Gangtang and other family members to accept, "The two people are pushing each other." Guo Gangtang said that he hoped that the public prosecution would severely punish the defendant. As for the follow-up progress of the case, I believe that the public prosecution will give a fair judgment on the defendant's statement of the defendant's criminal facts.
Guo Gangtang also revealed to the media that this trial was the first time he had seen two criminal suspects. During the trial, he asked, "Do you know me?" Tang Lixia replied that she "knows" because she has seen his story of searching for relatives in news reports, but she cannot be sure that it was his child who was lured and abducted in Liaocheng. This also made Guo Gangtang cry again: since the other party knew of his existence, but for so many years, he had never thought of calling him.
Gao Weixiao said that after the first trial, the wishes of Guo Gangtang and his family remained unchanged, that is, they hoped that the court would severely punish the traffickers.
On July 7, 2023, at the gate of the Liaocheng Intermediate People's Court in Shandong Province, parents across the country began to search for family information. Screenshot of the Beijing News live broadcast
"I hope the lens gives more families looking for relatives"
"Thank you for your interest in our group, or do you want to focus more on these families who have not yet found their children." Like Doudou, Yuanyuan, they..." Guo Gangtang's first sentence after walking out of the courthouse still hopes that the media will pay more attention to other families who have not yet found their children, he knows that the road to finding relatives is not easy, "One more information push may allow children to find their way home." ”
Behind him, there is a white T-shirt and a sign of searching for relatives.
The parents arrived at the courthouse earlier than Guo Gangtang. At 7 o'clock in the morning of the 7th, parents who came from all over the country had gathered at the gate of the courthouse, standing in a row, holding up signs with information about their children above their heads, trying to pass this information to every camera. "Xun'er Jun County Shike" "Xun'er Yao Yifei, Beijing Tongzhou was trafficked" "Xun'er Dacheng County Zhang Kaiyuan, Zhang Jiayuan" "Xun Hebei Wang Yanchao, his thumb is missing" "Xun'er Hu Jinyang, there is a small crescent-shaped birthmark on his back" "Xun'er Zhai Jianchao, there is a scar of about 3 cm on his right forehead".....
For more than 5 hours, they did not walk away. In this hot summer when "popsicles melted in a short time", they were excited about the opening of the case, and at the same time hoped to spread the search information through the media lens. At 9:30 a.m., while waiting for the outcome of the trial, nearly 10 parents of the search for their children stood in a row at the entrance of the courthouse, holding up information signs on their chests and shouting in unison, "Severely punish traffickers." Some parents of the child hunter cried emotionally and knelt in front of the camera.
The Beijing News previously reported that before he found the child, Guo Gangtang began to look for relatives and help others find relatives. In 2012, Guo Gangtang founded the Tianya Family Search Network, using the power of the Internet to help families like him who have lost their children. In 2014, with the support of the Liaocheng Civil Affairs Bureau, Guo Gangtang established the Tianya Family Search Association, which expanded from the initial simple search for separated families to volunteer training, rescue of left-behind children, and psychological counseling for minors.
After the successful search for his son, Guo Gangtang believes that his life is really starting to get on track. In March this year, he and his wife held a wedding for Guo Xinzhen in their hometown of Liaocheng, Shandong, and the second son also successfully proposed marriage and was about to hold a wedding, and the third son's studies went well.
On June 29, Guo Gangtang also posted on social media, saying, "When I came to Beijing to see my second eldest child, the children took us to eat foreign meals. In the video, Guo Gangtang and his wife take the steak cut by their children and taste it with a knife and fork with a smile.
Although life has returned to calm, Guo Gangtang's pace of helping people find relatives has never stopped. If someone asks for help, he still helps record the search information and spread it online. In March this year, Guo Xinzhen's wedding was donated by Guo Gangtang to other families looking for children by live streaming of 30,000 yuan on the short video platform. In June, he also escorted a lost child back to his hometown of Wushan, Chongqing.
After finding the child, the outside world still did not let go of the attention to Guo Gangtang. And he always said, "Give more shots to other child-seeking families." ”
Beijing News reporter Wang Chang Intern Zou Bingqian
Edited by Yuan Guoli Proofreader Fu Chunshu