On the evening of November 1, the official website of the Shanghai Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection released the news: Zhang Zheng, president of the Shanghai Songjiang District People's Court and secretary of the party leading group, was suspected of serious violations of discipline and law and is currently under disciplinary review and supervision and investigation by the Shanghai Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection.
Zhang Zheng, 52, who has worked in the court system for nearly 30 years, stepped down as vice president of the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court on July 29 this year, and was elected president of the Songjiang District People's Court at the Tenth Session of the Fifth People's Congress of Shanghai On August 20.
Zhang Zheng. Infographic
He has tried tried triad-related cases listed and supervised by the National Anti-Organized Crime Office
According to the official resume, Zhang Zheng, born in October 1969, a native of Shanghai, holds a bachelor's degree in law, began working in July 1992 and joined the Communist Party of China in December 1998.
He graduated from Shanghai University and served as vice president of the First Civil Division, president of the Third Civil Division, and president of the Case Filing Division of the Shanghai Second Intermediate People's Court, and later transferred to the Shanghai Higher People's Court, where he successively served as director of the Office of Letters and Petitions, vice president of the Case Filing Division, and president of the Case Filing Division.
In January 2019, Zhang Zheng returned to his old unit again and served as the vice president of the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court, but stepped down in July this year and served as vice president for two and a half years. During his tenure, the two major cases in which Zhang Zheng served as the chief judge were of particular concern to the public.
In 2020, 4 years have passed since the murder of the sensational international student Jiang Ge, but the aftermath of related cases such as the right to reputation has not yet been solved. On October 27, 2020, a case of insulting and defaming Jiang Ge and her mother was pronounced in the second instance of the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate Court. The second-instance judgment upheld the first-instance judgment, and defendant Tan Bin was sentenced to one year and six months in prison for the crimes of insult and defamation. After the verdict of the case, the Shanghai Second Intermediate Court announced the verdict for the first time, which aroused the attention of many netizens, and the Weibo of the Shanghai Second Intermediate Court read 36.38 million, and netizens left messages to express their support.
According to CCTV screenshots.
Zhang Zheng, then vice president of the Shanghai Second Intermediate People's Court who was in charge of hearing the case, said in an interview with CCTV that the Internet is not an extralegal place, and netizens should also know, abide by, use, and understand the law on the Internet, and the judgment in this case has played a certain benchmarking role in the regulation of online violence.
In addition, Zhang Zheng also served as the presiding judge of the triad-related cases of 38 people, including Zhao Fuqiang, who was listed and supervised by the National Anti-Organized Crime Office.
From August 17 to 21, 2020, the Shanghai Second Intermediate People's Court held a trial of zhao fuqiang and 38 other defendants accused by the procuratorate of organizing, leading, participating in a mafia-type organization, rape, organizing prostitution, fraud, forced trading, accepting bribes, and paying bribes. Due to the privacy involved, the hearing was held in private.
Zhao Fuqiang was sentenced to a suspended death sentence in the first instance, with a limited commutation of sentence; the other 37 defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from two years and six months to 20 years. After the first-instance judgment, Zhao Fuqiang and 19 other defendants appealed, and at the end of last year, the Shanghai Municipal Higher People's Court made a final ruling, rejecting the appeal and upholding the original judgment.
The "protective umbrella" behind the Zhao Fuqiang case has also been eradicated one by one.
According to xinhua news agencies, Lu Yan, former member of the Standing Committee of the Yangpu District CPC Committee and former secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of Shanghai, who has been ousted, and Ren Yongfei, former president of the Yangpu District People's Court, are all "protective umbrellas" for Zhao Fuqiang. According to the Shanghai Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection, Lu Yan "not only did not earnestly implement the major policy decisions and arrangements of the party Central Committee on launching the special struggle against organized crime and evil forces in his locality, but on the contrary, he took advantage of his wisdom and dimwittedness, and privately colluded with the members of the mafia-type organization, inquiring about the facts of the case, ventilating information, and willingly serving as a protective umbrella for the criminal syndicate and evil forces." Ren Yongfei was accused of "li lingzhi dimwitted, privately accepting the entrustment of members of the mafia-type organization to intervene in relevant cases for his illegal interference, and in essence has become an umbrella for the criminal syndicate and evil forces." In September last year, Lu Yan was sentenced to 17 years in prison for accepting bribes, embezzlement, and harboring and conniving at mafia-type organizations, and Ren Yongfei was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison for accepting bribes and conniving at mafia-type organizations.
Stressing the need to "always maintain the true political character of honesty and honesty"
On July 29 this year, at the 33rd session of the Standing Committee of the 15th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress, Zhang Zheng was dismissed from his posts as vice president, member of the adjudication committee, and adjudicator of the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court.
At that time, Zhang Zheng had been appointed secretary of the party group and acting president of the Shanghai Songjiang District People's Court.
According to the Shanghai Songjiang Court, on the morning of 21 July, the Fourth Guidance Group for education and rectification of the Shanghai Municipal Law Contingent went to the Songjiang Court to inspect and guide the work of "looking back." On behalf of the party leading group of the Songjiang court, Zhang Zheng, then secretary of the party leading group and acting president of the court, delivered a special report on the work of "looking back" at the education and rectification of the political and legal contingent.
On August 20, the second plenary session of the Tenth Session of the Fifth People's Congress of Songjiang District, Shanghai, was held, and Zhang Zheng was re-elected as the president of the Songjiang District People's Court.
On September 10, the Songjiang Court held the 2021 Mid-Year Work Conference. Zhang Zheng, secretary of the party group and president of the hospital, summed up the work in the first half of 2021, and especially mentioned that it is necessary to adhere to the strict management of the party and the hospital to ensure that the team is loyal, pure and reliable. Continue to consolidate and deepen the results of the education and rectification of the political and legal contingent, adhere to the orientation of problems, strictly benchmark against the table, and always keep the thinking not relaxed, the intensity not weakened, and the standards not lowered, so as to ensure that the education and rectification of the contingent achieve tangible results. We should unremittingly promote the building of party style and clean government, always maintain the political essence of being upright and clean, strictly implement the "three regulations" on preventing interference in the judiciary, and build a high-quality and excellent contingent that is loyal, clean, and responsible.
On the afternoon of October 19, the Songjiang District Court and the Songjiang District Bureau of Justice jointly held a meeting to explore the implementation of mediation procedures and the construction of grass-roots contact points in the court liaison office of the Non-litigation Dispute Resolution Center, and Zhang Zheng attended the meeting.
This was the last time Zhang Zheng appeared in media reports, and 12 days later, Zhang Zheng fell.
Text: Liang Jianzhong