The "half-immortal's" deceptive words, the husband's cruel hand

[2] Compiled from: The Paper, Red Star News
 
In November 2017, a woman surnamed Hu from Yanshan County was taken by her husband, Chen Moulong, to the home of a local "fortune teller" for "treatment," where the fortune teller, Zhao Moujiang, diagnosed her as being "possessed by a snake spirit." To cure Hu's "illness," Chen Moulong and his younger brother, Chen Moulai, followed Zhao Moujiang's instructions and whipped Hu with a leather strap, which ultimately caused her death.
 
The People's Court of Yanshan County, Cangzhou City, Hebei Province, ultimately rendered its judgment in the "Fortune Teller Homicide Case." According to the judgment, Zhao Moujiang, Chen Moulong, and Chen Moulai were all convicted of intentional injury and sentenced to 13 years, 12 years, and 2 years and 2 months respectively.
 

 
 

Case review
At first, Hu Moujuan's children had poor gastrointestinal health. However, instead of taking them to a hospital, their father, Chen Moulong, brought the whole family to see Zhao Moujiang. Zhao Moujiang was a well-known local "semi-immortal," "specializing in all kinds of difficult and complicated diseases, external calamities, and feng shui for residences and graves."
 
But who would have known that this Zhao Moujiang was not only illiterate, but had also been convicted of the crimes of picking quarrels and provoking trouble and illegally possessing firearms? After his so-called "diagnosis," Zhao Moujiang identified the "root of the trouble"——the child's poor health was fundamentally caused by Hu Moujuan. Zhao Moujiang claimed that Hu Moujuan was possessed by a "snake spirit" and had contracted a "phantom illness." What is even more absurd is that her husband, Chen Moulong, firmly believed all of this.
 
From November 18 to November 27, 2017, Chen Mou-long took Hu Mou-juan to Zhao Mou-jiang’s home every day for Zhao to treat Hu’s “illness caused by unseen forces.” During the “treatment,” Zhao Mou-jiang pinched the back of Hu Mou-juan’s neck with his hands and struck her legs and back with an axe.
 
On November 24, Chen Mou-long called his younger brother Chen Mou-lai back from Beijing.
 
At around 0:00 on November 27, Chen Mou-long used a belt to tie Hu Mou-juan’s arms in front of her and grabbed her hair with his hand, while Chen Mou-lai held a V-belt, and together they drove to Zhao Mou-jiang’s home. At Zhao Mou-jiang’s instruction, Chen Mou-long made a whip using a V-belt and a wooden stick at Zhao’s home, and then used the whip to repeatedly lash Hu Rui-juan’s back and legs to “treat her illness.” During the lashing, Chen Mou-lai held Hu Mou-juan to prevent her from struggling.
 
At around 16:00 that day, Hu Moujuan died. According to forensic identification, Hu Moujuan died of traumatic shock caused by multiple blunt force impacts.
 
The day after Hu Mojuan's death, Chen Molong and Chen Molai were criminally detained by Yanshan police on suspicion of intentional injury. On the third day after Hu Mojuan's death, Zhao Mojiang was placed under residential surveillance by Yanshan police on suspicion of intentional injury.
 
 
The trial process
On February 27, 2019, the case had its first hearing at Yanshan County Court. During the proceedings, Zhao Moujiang claimed he was ill and could not continue. On May 5 of the same year, the trial resumed at Yanshan County People's Court.

 

During the second trial, Zhao Moujiang refused to plead guilty, and his defense lawyer entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf. The defense lawyers for Chen Moulong and Chen Moulai argued that the Chen brothers did not constitute the crime of intentional injury, and that their actions conformed to the circumstances of “deceiving others through superstition, resulting in death.”
 
 
[1] Court Opinion
The Yanshan County Court held that when Zhao Moujiang was treating Hu Moujuan for a “phantom illness,” he struck Hu Moujuan’s back and legs with an axe and directed Chen Moulong to whip Hu Moujuan. Chen Moulong, at Zhao Moujiang’s direction, whipped Hu Moujuan’s back and legs. During the whipping, Chen Moulai restrained Hu Moujuan to prevent her from struggling. Subsequently, the prolonged and repeated whipping caused Hu Moujuan’s death. The acts of all three defendants constituted the crime of intentional injury.
 
The actions of the three defendants did not meet the objective elements of causing death through superstition. The objective element of causing death through superstition is when the perpetrator uses feudal superstition to deceive others, causing the deceived person to engage in fasting, self-harm, self-abuse, or preventing the patient from receiving normal treatment, leading to death.
 
On October 26, the Yanshan County Court issued a first-instance judgment, convicting Zhao Moujiang, Chen Moulong, and Chen Moulai of intentional injury, sentencing them to 13 years, 12 years, and 2 years and 2 months respectively.
 
Currently, Hu Moujuan's parents believe that the sentences imposed by the Yanshan County Court on Zhao Moujiang, Chen Moulong, and Chen Moulai are clearly too lenient, and they have requested the Cangzhou Intermediate People's Court to file a protest.
 
 
[1] The author's perspective
Ironically, according to local villagers: “Ever since that Great Immortal Zhao fell from grace, the business of nearby Immortal Zhao and Half-Immortal Liu has actually gotten better. That Immortal Zhao was originally just a village woman. She claimed that one day while working in the kitchen, she was possessed by a yellow weasel, and from then on, she could diagnose and treat illnesses.” It is worth noting that in many rural areas of China, the yellow weasel is regarded as the “Great Immortal Huang,” which shows that many people in rural areas still believe in ghosts and spirits.
 
Hu Moujuan appeared to have died at the hands of her husband, but in reality, she fell in a pool of blood spilled by feudal superstition. As a person with full civil capacity, could Chen Moulong not have known that such beatings constituted intentional harm, or even could cause death? Yet the sorcerer "Zhao Daxian" filled his ears with demonic words that seemed to blind him, and he naively believed that whipping his wife could cure their children's illness.
 
The most tragic part is not just this; such cases are by no means isolated in our country. From creating crooked doctrines to brainwash, to using feudal superstition to defraud money and sex, such cases are common. Every time we see them, besides anger, we feel more regret.
 
In recent years, our country has continuously proposed enriching the spiritual and cultural lives of farmers and resisting feudal superstition. The author believes that enriching the spiritual and cultural lives of farmers is one aspect, but what should be more urgently addressed is improving the low quality of our population. Only by raising cultural quality and establishing legal ideology can we form correct values and resist the evil forces of feudal superstition.