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Public network poster news reporter Zhang Wen Lu Le Hebei Baoding reported
"I've been complaining, I haven't given up on my dreams at night, I'm all complaining in my dreams."
"I haven't been out to visit the door in the past 20 years, and it's much easier to work outside than in my hometown, and I always feel that someone is talking about it at home."
……
Li Yang (pseudonym), a 61-year-old farmer in Baixiang County, Xingtai City, Hebei Province, has done two things in the past 16 years. One thing is to work to earn money, and the other thing is to complain everywhere. In fact, this can also be said to be one thing, working to earn money is to make a living, but also to earn legal fees so that he can continue to file a not guilty appeal.
"During my 4 years in prison, I never admitted guilt. There is no technical appraisal, no on-site inspection record, nothing, how can I be convicted just by just proving my words? ”
Li yang
Rape case 20 years ago
On the afternoon of May 24, when a reporter from the public network poster met Li Yang at a construction site in Zhuozhou, Hebei Province, he and his wife were working with his wife on a cement-built building from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Li Yang has been doing such a job for most of his life.
If time could be restarted, Li Yang would rather have only worked as a construction worker in his life and never done any other work. Li Yang said that if he had not sold rat poison that year, he would not have had an argument with others, and he would not have been unjustly raped and imprisoned, allowing him to live in the dark for 20 years.
Li Yang is an authentic farmer who has been working on construction sites since graduating from high school. Although I earn hard money, I can barely make ends meet. In addition, Li Yang also has a happy big family, three daughters and a son, his wife is industrious and capable, and his parents are still healthy.
Around 2000, because all four children had to go to school, the family's expenses gradually increased, and Li Yang sold rat poison at the suggestion of a friend.
"I used to work as a bricklayer, but when I heard a friend of mine say that selling rat poison can earn a few dollars more than building work, I started selling rat poison. Riding bicycles through the streets, there are horns in front of the car, medicine boxes in the back, where the music is placed, as soon as they hear the music, everyone else knows that the rat poison seller is coming. Li Yang said that his main job at that time was still to do construction work, basically ten days and a half months would go to ten miles and eight villages to sell rat poison.
"When he worked in the village before, he never got a stain or had any conflicts with people. Since I started selling rat poison, I have often chatted with people. Li Yang's wife still regrets it very much, and did not insist that Li Yang give up selling rat poison at that time.
"My daughter-in-law won't let me do this, I said let's do this, this can earn a few dollars more than building, sometimes I can do construction work for two days a day." 」 Although it is inevitable to quarrel with others, the life of The Li Yang family is obviously better.
However, what Li Yang did not expect was that because of selling rat poison, he was involved in a lawsuit.
Li Yang, who is working at a construction site
It was April 2, 2001, and Li Yang was selling rat poison at the door of a chicken farmer in a neighboring village. Li Yang still remembers the situation of the day vividly.
"Her house is next to the north and south streets of the village, the door is full of people, her house is a broken house, it is all chicken pens, broken fences, there is no door. Her family is a chicken farmer, and she will often use my medicine, and she will use a lot of medicine. Sometimes I give money, sometimes I don't give money, and I say I can take credit and poison rats and give money because I know my medicine works. Li Yang said that because the other party owed him 6 yuan of medicine money has not been given, so on April 2, he went to the other party to ask for money.
Li Yang said that after he went in, he saw that the hostess Rulan (pseudonym) was weaving, and he asked the other party to pay the money owed. "She said my medicine didn't work, it didn't matter. I said it couldn't work, others used it, it worked, she used less. Li Yang told reporters that because both sides did not speak well, there was a dispute.
"At that time, I saw that there was no result in asking for money, so I wanted to leave, so she came forward and grabbed me, caught me on the nose, and at that time it was broken and bleeding." As soon as I thought about it, the money would not be returned, so I scolded and grinned and left. Li Yang said that the two villages were less than two kilometers apart, and the two sides had no other intersection at all except for buying and selling medicines, and he didn't even know what the name of the other party was at the time.
After leaving, Li Yang continued to walk the streets and alleys to sell rat poison. At four or five o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, after Li Yang returned to the village, the neighbor told him that someone from the public security bureau had approached him and asked him what was going on. "I said come on, I just had a fight with her, there was an argument, and nothing happened."
Li Yang said that he thought the police came to him because of his quarrel with the other party. So he didn't think much of it and ate at home. "After eating, the people from the public security bureau came and took me away directly. I was still thinking about making things clear, but when I arrived at the police station, they directly said that I was raped. After arriving at the police station, Li Yang learned that Rulan's husband called the police to say that Li Yang had raped Rulan.
"I said I didn't have this, I just had an argument with her. The Public Security Bureau interrogated me repeatedly, and I said I didn't, and I left her house in no more than 5 minutes. Li Yang said that the Rulan family is on the edge of the big set, and in early April, it is a busy time, there are many people working, coming and going, and his rat poison truck is placed in front of the Rulan family, the horn is still ringing, and there are people who come to buy medicine at any time.
"If I had raped her, my neighbor told me that the public security bureau had come to me, and I would have run away." Li Yang said that during the public security review stage, he never admitted that he had raped the other party. "Never, I didn't have this thing, I don't admit it, I didn't have this thing the whole time. I have 4 children in school, I have a wife, I have an old father and an old mother, all rely on me to work alone to earn money to support the family, I can never do this. ”
"How can I be condemned by just words?"
On April 2, 2001, Li Yang was taken into criminal custody and subsequently arrested on the same day he was taken away. On June 20, 2001, the Baixiang County People's Procuratorate filed a public indictment against Li Yang with the Baixiang County People's Court for rape.
The Baixiang County People's Procuratorate alleged that at about 11:00 on April 2, 2001, Li Yang sneaked to Rulan's house under the pretext of selling rat poison. Seeing that only Rulan was at home, he had evil thoughts and raped him. The above facts are corroborated by Li Yang's confession, the victim's statement by Rulan, and the testimony of witnesses, which are sufficient to confirm.
In court, Li Yang argued that he had not raped the victim and that he had gone to the victim's house to recover the rat poison he owed. Li Yang's defender proposed that the evidence in this case was contradictory and lacked the main evidence, and the defendant should be acquitted in accordance with law.
At trial, the Baixiang County Court held that the victim's statement and the witness's testimony corroborated each other, and the defendant's confession at trial that the underwear he was wearing was consistent with the victim's statement, was sufficient to find that the fact that defendant Li Yang committed rape was true. On August 28, 2001, the Baixiang County People's Court sentenced Li Yang to five years in prison for rape in the first instance.
The reporter noticed that the victim Rulan stated that at about 11:00 a.m. that day, Li Yang rode a bicycle to her house with a rat poison box, and when he saw that her husband was not at home, he verbally provoked and raped her. There were 6 witnesses mentioned in the first-instance judgment of the Baixiang County Court, of which witness 1 was Rulan's husband, who said that he received a call from Rulan while working outside that day, and when he returned home, Rulan told him that he had been raped by Li Yang. Witness 2 is Li Yang's fellow criminal, Huang Moumou, who said that he had privately asked Li Yang if he had raped, and Li Yang told him that he had touched someone's breast. Witnesses 3 and 4 Zhao X and Duan X said that Li Yang had a nasal injury. Witnesses 5 and 6 Jia X and Sun X said that Ru Lan did not owe Li Yang money for rat poison.
"Their evidence is some witness testimony, which is unreasonable. None of these witnesses' testimony is directly related to the case, and none of them saw me rape in person. Li Yang questioned that Rulan's testimony was inconsistent and was simply fabricated.
After the first-instance judgment was pronounced, Li Yang was not satisfied and appealed. On November 30, 2001, the Xingtai Intermediate People's Court ruled to reject Li Yang's appeal and upheld the original judgment.
"During my 4 years in prison, I never admitted guilt. Why is there no facts, no evidence, no technical appraisal, no on-site inspection, and I am found guilty just by just proving the evidence. ”
He insisted on a plea of innocence for 16 years and was remanded for retrial three times
In April 2005, Li Yang was released from prison after serving a four-year sentence (with a one-year commutation).
"The moment I came out of prison, my biggest thought was to overturn the case, file a grievance, and return my innocence." Li Yang said that he did not admit guilt in prison. However, because the appeal requires finding a lawyer and spending money, the family has no money, so he can only choose to work and earn money while appealing after he is released from prison.
"I'm not guilty, I have grievances in my heart, and I have to give myself a clean slate." Although he had served his sentence and was nearly 50 years old when he was released from prison, Li Yang had always insisted on appealing. "What I did and what I didn't do, I know very well in my heart that I can't be wronged."
After his release from prison, Li Yang applied to the Xingtai Intermediate Court for retrial, and on April 2, 2007, the Xingtai Intermediate Court rejected Li Yang's application for retrial. Li Yang also applied for a protest from the Xingtai Procuratorate, which was also rejected.
"After I got out of prison, I worked on construction sites, working to earn money to support my family while finding a lawyer to continue complaining." Like most people in the village, Li Yang works in the field all year round, only to return home for a few days during the wheat harvest, autumn harvest and New Year's day.
However, the difference is that Li Yang will always go to the courts at all levels to hand over appeal materials between work trips. "Go to the Xingtai Intermediate People's Court, the Hebei Higher People's Court, the Procuratorate, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate to hand over the appeal materials, and these departments have to go once or twice a year." Li Yang said.
"For more than ten years, I have not stopped like this, appealing while working, and always carrying complaint materials with me. Dreams are all complaints, sometimes in the dream crying and waking up, the days of being wronged and guilty are really impossible to live. ”
The Hebei Higher People's Court ordered the Xingtai Intermediate Court to retry the case
Finally, kung fu pays off. On December 25, 2017, the Hebei Provincial High Court found that the facts of the original judgment were unclear and the evidence was insufficient, and ordered the Xingtai Intermediate Court to retry.
Knowing this news, Li Yang was very excited, "I think I have hope, I have a little smile from the heart, which has never been seen in the past ten years." ”
However, the Xingtai Intermediate People's Court held that the evidence in the case could determine that Li Yang had the subjective intent and behavior of forcibly committing rape against the victim's will, but the evidence in the original judgment that Li Yang constituted the completion of the crime of rape was insufficient. Therefore, the original judgment found that Li Yang was convicted of rape and was accurately characterized, but the sentence was improper.
In addition to the evidence determined at the first instance, the Xingtai Intermediate People's Court also found that when Rulan stated that when Li Yang raped her, she patronized and scratched and did not shout. Jia Moumou, a neighbor who is separated from the Rulan family by a wall, said that he did not hear any movement in the Rulan family that day. On April 3, 2018, the Xingtai Intermediate People's Court commuted Li Yang's sentence to three years' imprisonment for rape.
"I don't want to change 3 years, what I need is innocence, what is the use of you changing me for 3 years, there is no point at all, change the soup and do not change the medicine." Li Yang was not satisfied and appealed to the Hebei Higher People's Court again.
On October 13, 2020, the Hebei Provincial High Court held that the facts of the original judgment finding that Li Yang constituted rape were unclear, and ruled to revoke the judgment previously made by the Xingtai Intermediate Court and the Baixiang County Court and remand it to the Baixiang County Court for retrial.
The Hebei Higher People's Court remanded for retrial again
The Baixiang County Court re-examined Ming: On the day of the crime, Li Yang saw that only Rulan was at home, teased with words, and forcibly molested, and when Rulan resisted, he scratched Li Yang's nose, and then Li Yang fled. Li Yang forcibly indecently molested the victim, and his conduct constituted the crime of forced indecency. On December 18, 2020, the Baixiang County Court retried and sentenced Li Yang to four years in prison for the crime of forced indecency.
"I was so bitter in my heart, I didn't have this, the court did not suspect that the guilt was never done, but the innocence was changed to guilt, and I could only continue to appeal."
On March 15, 2021, the case was heard in private at the Xingtai Intermediate Court. After deliberation by the collegial panel and discussion and decision by the adjudication committee, the Xingtai Intermediate People's Court held that the facts of the original judgment finding that Li Yang constituted the crime of forced indecency were unclear and violated legal procedures. On April 30, the Xingtai Intermediate People's Court ruled that the criminal judgment made by the Baixiang County Court in 2020 should be revoked and sent back to the Baixiang County Court for a new trial.
Hopefully this will be the last time and there will be a satisfactory result
On May 12, 2021, Li Yang received a verdict from the Xingtai Intermediate Court to remand for retrial, which is the third time that his case has been remanded for retrial.
On May 12, 2021, Li Yang received the retrial ruling for the third time
"Hopefully this will be the last time and there will be a satisfactory result." Li Yang said that if there is still no result in remanding this time, he will continue to appeal and continue to wait for a fair, just and reasonable judgment of the law.
"I haven't looked up in 20 years, I must file a grievance, there will always be a day when the water will come out." The law is fair and just, I believe in the country, I believe in the law, I will always have a day to come out. Li Yang's wife told reporters, "Because of this matter, he has not visited the door for 20 years." I don't know if people are willing to let me go, and I am afraid that people will talk behind their backs. ”
Li Yang said that the charge of carrying a rapist not only had a particularly big impact on himself, but also affected the lives of his family.
"It made my family unable to lift their heads and live in the village." The discussion behind the people in the village, the good relations in the past are estranged, and there is not much contact. Li Yang said that before the accident in 2001, the family mainly relied on him to survive. After the accident, the family's main source of income was cut off.
"At that time they were very difficult, the family collapsed, there was no one to rely on. It is up to my daughter-in-law to get up early and work in the dark, farm the land, save money, support 4 children, and take care of her parents. Li Yang said that when he had an accident, the eldest of the four children was seventeen or eighteen years old, and the youngest was only ten years old, all in school.
"People are pointing out how bad their father is, living in prison or something, causing too much harm to the children." Because I have affected them with this matter, I feel particularly guilty. Li Yang especially felt that it was his son who couldn't help it.
"My son dropped out of school before he finished junior high school and has been working outside the home. This year, I am 30 years old and have not yet started a family, just because I am carrying this crime, I have a bad reputation, when I am on a blind date, people will not do it when they ask, and they feel that the family is not good. ”
"My son used to love to talk and laugh, but now he basically doesn't speak." Speaking of sons, Li Yang's wife has a lot to say. "When my husband was first taken away, my son didn't speak for several days, and although he was only 10 years old, he was very good and knew everything. It was only later that his classmate's father told him that his father had not committed any crime at all, that someone else wanted to blackmail him for money, that he slowly began to speak again. ”
Just after saying two words, Li Yang's wife's tears flowed out. "I'm a person who cares a lot about fame, we have a big set in our village, and I've never gone to the set. It's like stealing someone's stuff, because if you walk in the village, others will definitely point fingers. "Li Yang's wife told reporters that at the beginning, she did not dare to go out to meet people." They all play flashlights at night to grow vegetables. I was already bitter enough in my heart, and I had to comfort my children, mainly my son, who was too young and had a shadow in his heart to come out until now. ”
However, Li Yang's wife has always believed in her heart that Li Yang did not commit a crime, and also said that she will always support her husband's appeal. "The biggest wish is to give her husband a clean slate, and I hope that my son can quickly marry a daughter-in-law and hug his grandson as soon as possible."
"I hope to restore my innocence, let my son's mentality go on the right track, so that he can raise his eyebrows like a normal person." Li Yang said that he had built a new house for his son and waited to marry his daughter-in-law, and he waited for seven or eight years. "Everyone my age is a grandfather, and my grandson has already gone to school."
"So I have to complain, I am innocent, I am not guilty, I can't carry a black name into the coffin, otherwise I will die blind."
"Now it's back for retrial, and the first-instance judgment hasn't come out yet." Lawyer Wei, li yang's lawyer, told reporters that the reason why Li Yang's case was remanded for retrial three times was mainly because of insufficient evidence. "If the evidence is very solid, the original judgment will certainly be upheld directly when the previous judgment is made." To put it simply, the evidence is indeed not solid, the case itself is suspicious, there must be physical and technical identification of such evidence, now there is only one victim's statement, there is no complete chain of evidence, and it is not possible to convict based on a confession alone. ”
Lawyer Wei told reporters that for the determination of rape cases, there must first be a statement from the victim, followed by the detection and identification of traces at that time, and the determination of whether the infringement was committed. "We're definitely going to do a not-guilty plea, and this time it's very promising." Lawyer Wei said that if the court upheld the original verdict or did not acquit this time, they would continue to appeal. "Because it has been nearly 20 years since the appeal, there must be a final result in this case." If the guilty verdict had been upheld, there would certainly have been an appeal. ”
In response to Li Yang's case, the Staff of the Baixiang County Procuratorate and the Baixiang County Court in charge of this matter told reporters that as far as the facts of the case are concerned, it is not convenient for them to disclose or express their opinions before the case is formally judged. The relevant staff of the Xingtai Intermediate People's Court said in an interview that the case has not yet been conclusive, and since the parties have been shouting injustice, they will definitely try the case objectively and fairly in accordance with the law.
The reporter learned that during several court trials after Li Yang was released from prison, Rulan and other witnesses did not appear in court. Li Yang also told reporters that he and his defense lawyer had repeatedly asked the court to let Rulan and witnesses appear in court, but there had been no result. At the same time, after the incident, Li Yang has not been in contact with the other party and does not know the contact information of the other party.