Compared with the trial, on the afternoon of April 15, 2021, Jiang Qiulian, who attended the media meeting, was emotional. (Southern Weekend reporter Gao Yichen/photo)
Jiang Qiulian restrained her emotions. Dressed in a dark blue trench coat, she sat in the plaintiff's seat, turned her head, and stared at the video of the evidence playing in court, looking solemn. The video has been changed more than 30 times, with the intention of restoring the last 10 hours of the only daughter Jiang Ge's life through evidence.
This scene occurred on the morning of April 15, 2021, at the Chengyang District Court in Qingdao City, Shandong Province, at the trial site of the dispute between Jiang Qiulian and Liu Nuanxi (former name: Liu Xin).
In the early morning of November 3, 2016, Jiang Ge, a 24-year-old female student in Japan, was killed by her friend Liu Xin's ex-boyfriend Chen Shifeng in front of her apartment. Chen Shifeng was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a court in Tokyo, Japan.
Subsequently, Jiang Qiulian filed a civil lawsuit against Liu Xin in China, and her lawyer Huang Leping pointed out that "it was Chen Shifeng who killed people with a knife, but it was Liu Xin who killed Jiang Ge." He said that from a civil point of view, Liu Xin had a fault and even a large intentional component, and transferred the risk to Jiang Ge, so he advocated that Liu Xin bear civil compensation liability.
What happened to Jiang Ge in the last 10 hours before his death, Jiang Qiulian has gradually learned in preparing for the civil lawsuit. But at the end of the video, the narrator said that "at 2:20 a.m., the Tokyo Medical University Hospital declared that the rescue was ineffective, and Jiang Ge died of excessive blood loss", Jiang Qiulian still could not hold back. Southern Weekend reporters saw in the auditorium that Jiang Qiulian lowered her head and wept silently, and the lawyer next to her gently stroked her back.
She brought the clothes she wore when her daughter was killed to the scene of the trial, "Jiang Ge's backpack, Jiang Ge's glasses, Jiang Ge's water cup, all in." Jiang Qiulian said afterwards. She regarded the court's verdict as a consolation to "Ge'er".
Defendant Liu Xin did not appear in court and retained full authority to represent him with a lawyer. The trial lasted more than three hours, and in view of the large dispute between the two parties, the verdict was not pronounced in court.
<h3>Long wait</h3>
Jiang Qiulian has been looking forward to the trial for a long time.
"Heartache, warmth, grievances, touching, tormenting, hurting, loving, hope..." She recorded her mixed feelings on social platforms. On the day close to the opening of the court, she told the Southern Weekend reporter that she was not in a good mood these days and wanted to be quiet.
Since receiving the summons for the trial on April 8, 2021, she has felt weak and powerless for several consecutive days, and she can't do anything.
Behind the "prostrate" state is Jiang Qiulian's "long wait" for this trial. It took more than two years and three months to initiate this civil lawsuit. Jiang Qiulian recorded in her public account that at a press conference in Tokyo on December 20, 2017, she clearly stated that she would sue Liu Xin when she returned to China, and on October 28, 2019, the civil lawsuit was accepted by the court.
Jiang Qiulian believes that in the case of Jiang Ge's murder, Liu Xin not only has moral responsibility, but also bears relevant legal responsibilities. She filed a lawsuit with Liu Xin on the grounds of a dispute over the right to life and claimed more than 2 million yuan.
The indictment mentions that the plaintiff argued that although the defendant Liu Xin did not directly participate in Chen Shifeng's intentional homicide of Jiang Ge, Liu Xin had an unshirkable major fault for Jiang Ge's death, including preventing Jiang Ge from calling the police, failing to fulfill his obligation to remind, locking the door to block the way of life, and failing to take rescue measures.
However, the case originally scheduled to be heard at the Chengyang District Court on June 30, 2020 has been postponed due to the epidemic and other factors.
Prior to the official hearing, the case went through two pre-trial conferences on June 5 and November 20, 2020. The first time, Liu Xinfang was not present; the second time, Liu Xin entrusted a lawyer to attend.
Qingdao Chengyang District People's Court. (Southern Weekend reporter Gao Yichen/photo)
Jiang Qiulian fell into anxiety while waiting. She counts the days, and at every important time node, she always mentions her expectations for "court". The moment when 2020 is about to end, the first working day after the Spring Festival in 2021, Jiang Ge's birthday in March, and the Qingming Festival in April, she always hopes to receive a verdict against Liu Xin, "can give Ge'er a little comfort", but "disappointed".
During this time, she shared her dynamics on social platforms: using a wall-breaking machine sent by a friend, typing a bowl of black beans, white rice and black sesame paste; buying a pot of pine red plums online; insisting on exercising, exercising "at least two times a day". When doing these things, she always thinks of "songs", her daughter likes meals with less oil and less salt, likes all the small animals...
In the comment area, there are a large number of netizens' comments. Some people commented that her public account "became a tree hole for girls." Jiang Qiulian herself said that in the company of netizens, she insisted on living.
But if someone advised her to give up, suggested that she start a new life, raise some small animals, or adopt another child, she would refuse. She replied in a comment, "I often see messages that urge me to 'put down', I don't know what the standard of putting down is, and I never forget the hurt of my songs. Don't bring up my songs anymore? Ask which mother can do it. ”
In these years, she was more known as "Jiang Ge Mama" than Jiang Qiulian.
<h3>Trial scene: Video restores 10 hours before Jiang Ge was killed</h3>
Nearly a year and a half after the case was filed, "Jiang Ge's mother" waited for that date.
At 9:00 a.m. on April 15, the Chengyang District Court of Qingdao City, three judges and four people's assessors formed a seven-member collegial panel to hear the case in public. The trial process is divided into several links: verifying the identity of the original defendant, court investigation, presenting evidence and cross-examining evidence, court debate, and summarizing statements.
The court appointed a seven-member collegial panel to hear the case, including 3 judges and 4 people's assessors. (Screenshot/photo of Chengyang District Court Weibo)
The plaintiff claimed that the defendant constituted a civil tort. Huang Leping, the plaintiff's lawyer, said that the defendant Liu Xin's major fault was the premise and root cause of Jiang Ge's murder in a dangerous situation: "If the defendant did not prevent Jiang Ge from calling the police, and Jiang Ge was not asked by the defendant to pick up the defendant at the subway station, Jiang Ge would not have been killed; the source of Jiang Ge's victimization came from the defendant; the defendant was the sole beneficiary and the biggest beneficiary of Jiang Ge's murder case; and the victim Jiang Ge was not at any fault." ”
The defendant's lawyer also made a detailed response, and concluded in the end, "The murder occurred in Japan, and as the defendant's agent, I can't use speculative language like 'if' or 'such speculative language' to restore the facts we imagined... We believe in all the evidence provided by the Japanese police to the Japanese courts, and believe that the decisions of the Japanese courts shall prevail. ”
It is worth noting that the plaintiff applied to play a 13-minute video in court, with the intention of restoring the 10 hours before Jiang Ge was killed, and to argue that Liu Xin was at fault or even subjectively intentional towards Jiang Ge. The video revealed for the first time that at the time of the crime, the police call recorded Jiang Ge's last scream.
Huang Leping mentioned at a media meeting on the afternoon of April 15 that the video, which began to be produced in May 2020 and was "drafted" in mid-November, was made by combining the judicial file of Jiang Ge's murder case and the investigation evidence of the Japanese police.
The defendant's lawyer said in court after watching the video that the components of the video are three parts. First, on the afternoon of November 2, 2016, the content of Liu Xin and Jiang Ge's WeChat conversation was objective and true, and there was no objection; second, the police extracted a screenshot of the station video, which was basically consistent with the defendant's statement; but the third key part was that the plaintiff "interspersed their speculation and imagination basis in the two kinds of evidence."
The video also mentions Liu Xin's police record on the day of the crime.
The video shows that at 1 minute and 38 seconds after Liu Xin called the police, Jiang Ge let out one last scream. Huang Leping added afterwards that the screams in the video were post-processed and that the original sound was "very poignant." Jiang Qiulian publicly posted the video on her social media platform the day after the trial.
A more detailed recording appeared at a follow-up meeting, where Huang Leping first disclosed the contents of two alarm calls to the media. Liu Xin's communication with the police was carried out in Japanese, Jiang Qiulian's other lawyer Li Jing interpreted before the broadcast, in the first phone call, Liu Xin said "lock the door, you don't scold", the tone was not very intense, it was to the Japanese police to specifically explain the location and the situation of the incident, after a scream from Jiang Ge, the alarm tone became very urgent, the mood became excited, and the answer began to panic. "We think she's aware of everything that's going on outside the door at this time."
In the second phone call, Liu Xin's mood was relatively "not so exaggerated", still relatively nervous, and the content of the alarm was that the people outside had left, and "I couldn't hear my sister's voice".
Southern Weekend reporters heard at the scene that in the two phone calls, the female voice of the police sounded flustered and uneasy, and her voice trembled and hurried. At the end of the first call, there was a long "beep" sound, "This is jiang ge's scream outside." Huang Leping interjected at this time to explain.
During the recording, Jiang Qiulian was hit again. She took off her glasses and hung her head slightly, her expression sad, but struggling to restrain herself. When the emotions are most outward, they just close their eyes, support their foreheads with their hands, and cover their faces for a long time.
<h3>Focus of the trial: whether Liu Xin locked the door</h3>
Whether Liu Xin locked the door was one of the focal points of controversy between the two sides in the trial.
This is especially important for Jiang Qiulian herself. Before the trial, Jiang Qiulian repeatedly told the outside world that Liu Xin had locked the door. She once mentioned on social platforms, "If (Liu Xin) does not lock the door, Jiang Ge can enter his home and avoid being killed by Chen Shifeng." ”
On the day of the trial on April 15, during the court investigation phase, the adjudicators asked the plaintiff to explain the basis.
"The fact of locking the door is not our speculation, we have a lot of objective evidence to prove it." The plaintiff's lawyer, Li Jing, said that Chen Shifeng's target was Liu Xin, who frantically rang the doorbell after controlling Jiang Ge, and liu Xin's first alarm call could be heard in the background of a series of urgent doorbells. "Japanese door locks are like this, if you don't reverse the lock inside, or lock the door with a key outside, the door can be pulled open by pressing the door handle." The act of frantically ringing the doorbell indicates that the door has been locked, otherwise you can enter the room directly through the door handle.
In addition, jiang ge lives in the 201 apartment, only Jiang Ge and Liu Xin two people have a door key, Jiang Ge if you want to lock the door outside must use the key, but Jiang Ge's key is always placed under the backpack, the zipper is locked, there is no time and space to lock the door, and then put the key in the bag, pull the zipper, "so if this door is locked, it must be locked from the inside."
Li Jing also pointed out that Liu Xin's confession has repeatedly contradicted itself, and in the phone calls between the first alarm and the second alarm, the statement about locking the door has been changed.
"Liu Xin called the police for the first time and said' Lock the door, you don't scold', the police asked if the door was locked, she replied 'yes, I locked'. But in the second police call, the saying was changed, 'Sister locked the door.' According to what Liu Xin mentioned in an interview with Weibo user "Uncle Cold-Eyed Meng", during the two alarms, she had called the seniors of the migrant shop for consultation. The plaintiff argued that her rhetoric was diverted to avoid legal liability.
Synthesizing Liu Xin's police call, Liu Xin's trial confession, and Chen Shifeng's confession, the plaintiff believes that a chain of evidence can be formed, that is, "at that time, Jiang Ge was pushed out, and Liu Xin quickly locked the door."
The defendant's lawyer said that the Japanese police also specifically questioned this point during the trial, "When the murder occurred, Liu Xin's police record must have been her true intention, and she simply did not have time to shirk her responsibility as the plaintiff's lawyer said, and there was no time to consider these." ”
The defendant's lawyer pointed out that the plaintiff's evidence showed that the murder occurred at 00:16 on November 3, and Liu Xin began to call the police at the same time period. In the defendant's statement, Liu Xin's original words in the police recording were not "lock the door, you don't argue", but "how to lock the door, don't make trouble". The two sides interpret the sentence completely differently.
"The Japanese may not understand what's going on with this word, but Chinese still knows, don't make a fuss, just don't joke or whatever." The defendant's lawyer said, "We insist on our point of view, all the evidence submitted by the plaintiff to the court, there is no evidence that clearly affirms that Liu Xin locked the door and pushed Jiang Ge out, is speculation." ”
The plaintiff's lawyer, Huang Leping, refuted this, "The defendant completely disregarded the factual evidence we submitted, and the factual evidence we submitted showed very clearly that Chen Shifeng said very clearly in his confession that Jiang Ge was launched by Liu Xin. ”
He reminded the collegial panel that Liu Xin was a witness in the case of Jiang Ge's murder and a defendant in this case, "so all the statements made by Liu Xin in the JiangGe criminal case belong to the parties." Chen Shifeng was a criminal offender in the Jiang Ge case, but in this case, his confession was witness testimony.
The defendant's lawyer reminded the collegial panel that Chen Shifeng's testimony may not be credible, "Chen Shifeng also said that the knife was given to him by Liu Xin. If this is the case, Liu Xin should not be a defendant, and the Japanese criminal court can directly convict her."
In addition, the two sides also had great differences on whether Liu Xin informed Jiang Ge of the potential risks before the crime occurred, and whether Liu Xin gave timely assistance at the time of the crime.
<h3>"If you don't sue Liu Xin, you will never know the truth</h3>."
For Jiang Qiulian, filing a civil lawsuit is also looking for an answer for herself.
Ever since her daughter was killed, she was desperate to know what had happened on the day of the crime. She recalled that at 5 p.m. on November 3, 2016, she received a phone call from the Chinese consulate in Japan, with only one sentence, "Your daughter was killed in Japan." ”
At seven or eight o'clock in the evening, she conducted a WeChat video with Liu Xin through Liu Xin's mother to inquire about Jiang Ge's situation. Liu Xin told her that Jiang Ge was in the hospital. But on the question of "dead or alive", Liu Xin replied "I don't know".
"At that time, the Japanese consulate only told me that my daughter had been killed, but did not tell me where Jiang Ge was killed, how Jiang Ge was killed, and did not tell me anything." At the end of the meeting, Jiang Qiulian said emotionally, "After asking her (referring to Liu Xin) for two hundred days, I didn't want to do anything to her, I just wanted her to tell me a truth, she just wouldn't tell me." ”
In the view of the plaintiff's lawyer Huang Leping, "regardless of the outcome of this case, at least I think Ms. Jiang Qiulian should approve of it - if there is no litigation case, she will never know the truth of this case." ”
In preparation for the proceedings, they collected criminal proceeding records from Japan and traveled to Japan to investigate and collect evidence.
At the scene of the trial, Jiang Qiulian listened in silence and did not speak the whole time. But at a media meeting in the afternoon, she raised two objections.
On the morning of April 15, 2021, the case of Jiang Qiulian v. Liu Nuanxi's right to life dispute was heard at the Chengyang District Court of Qingdao City. (Screenshot/photo of Chengyang District Court Weibo)
First, the two sides disagreed on the understanding of "beneficiaries". The plaintiff pointed out in court that the defendant was the sole beneficiary of Jiang Ge's murder case. The reason is that Liu Xin's life was bought at the expense of Jiang Ge.
However, in the understanding of the defence, "benefit" refers to the financial aspect. The defendant's lawyer mentioned at the trial that it is necessary to retrieve the records of Weibo, WeChat, Alipay and other flowing waters of the two sides since the murder case to determine "how much the defendant has benefited as a beneficiary" can be determined. The application for the collection of this evidence has previously been rejected by the court.
"Can life be measured in money?" Who is the biggest beneficiary? I especially want to ask, Liu Xin, how much is your life worth? Jiang Qiulian was very excited at the media meeting, and when the mood calmed down slightly, she added that life cannot be measured in money, "they (the defendant) can say such a thing, we can't."
In addition, at the end of the trial, the defendant's lawyer expressed the hope that "the two sides can find a more humane and warmer path and go on."
At this point, Jiang Qiulian also disagreed, she could not achieve "peace". "Peaceful getting along has the premise of peace", in more than four years, the two sides have gone through many pulls, and Liu Xin's attitude still makes her grumpy.
Jiang Qiulian also couldn't "let go." Pending the verdict of the civil dispute with Liu Xin, she will continue to wait for Chen Shifeng to return to China after completing his sentence, and then continue to use Chinese law to defend her rights.
Since the death of her only daughter, Jiang Qiulian, who has a junior high school education, has resolutely embarked on a road full of thorns to defend her rights.
Southern Weekend reporter Gao Yichen Southern Weekend intern Liu Huan