Insult and defamation combined punishment for multiple crimes, Jiang Ge's mother wins private prosecution!

Compiled from: Jian'ou Court
 
Case review
On April 17, the People's Court of Jian'ou City, Fujian Province, held a non-public trial in the case of Jiang Qilian's private prosecution against Lin for insult and defamation, sentencing the defendant Lin to two years and three months in prison for the crimes of insult and defamation, with concurrent punishment for multiple offenses.  

 
 

On November 3, 2016, Jiang (Jiang Qilian's daughter) was murdered in Japan by Chen, the ex-boyfriend of her roommate Liu. After the verdict, Lin published a series of blog posts related to the Jiang case via his Sina Weibo account "Dulang Duyu 4" and others. Jiang Qilian believed these posts constituted insult and defamation against Jiang and herself, so she filed a private criminal prosecution against Lin for insult and defamation in Jian'ou Court.
 
After trial, the court held that the internet is not a lawless place, and related speech and actions should be regulated by law. The defendant Lin repeatedly posted on Weibo to insult and defame others, publicly degrading their personality and damaging their reputation to a serious extent. His actions constituted the crimes of insult and defamation, warranting concurrent punishment for multiple offenses, leading to the above verdict.
 
 
《 [1] The People's Republic of China Criminal Procedure Law 》
Article 210 [Scope of Private Prosecution Cases]
Private prosecution cases include the following:
(1) Cases that are handled only upon complaint;
(2) Minor criminal cases for which the victim has evidence to prove;
(3) Cases where the victim has evidence to prove that the defendant should be held criminally liable for infringing upon the victim's personal or property rights, but the public security organ or the people's procuratorate does not pursue criminal liability against the defendant.
 
 
《 [1] The People's Republic of China 刑法》
Article 246 [Crime of Insult] [Crime of Defamation]
Whoever publicly insults another person by violence or other methods, or fabricates facts to defame another person, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, public surveillance, or deprivation of political rights.
The crime mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be handled only upon complaint, except where it seriously endangers social order or national interests.
Where an act prescribed in the first paragraph is committed through information networks, and the victim files a complaint with a people's court but has genuine difficulty in providing evidence, the people's court may request public security organs to provide assistance.
 
 
[1] The author's perspective
The Jiang Ge case has drawn widespread attention since its occurrence, not only for the case itself but also for a series of online insult and defamation cases. Unlike the Jiang Ge case, this case is a private criminal prosecution. According to the above legal provisions, criminal cases are not limited to public prosecutions. In this case, the defendant, Lin, published relevant blog posts online but neglected their authenticity, allegedly insulting and defaming Jiang Ge and her mother. This shows that the internet may seem like a protective shell, but it is not difficult to trace the real identities of netizens. Moreover, the law explicitly states that if the victim indeed has difficulty obtaining evidence, the people's court may request the public security organ to provide assistance.
 
Although with the development of the internet information age, more and more people hope to attract attention by posting sensational content online, the boundaries must be carefully observed. Once crossed, it not only harms the interests of others but also leads to severe consequences for oneself.