China: Cop-killer online hero case goes on trial

Yang Jia's case goes to trial today, after having been postponed for the Olympics. Previously he had been harmonized after having been heroized by many online for walking into a police station in Shanghai last month and killing six cops after what was accepted was an earlier case of injustice and police brutality of which he was rumored to have been on the receiving end.

Tuesday afternoon in China and many bloggers are waiting to hear what the verdict will be, if it even comes today. Writing about it is not working very well, as demonstrated by lawyer and legal blogger Liu Xiaoyuan in his post on his Sina blog, ‘A ban has been sent down on featuring blog posts discussing the Yang Jia case’:

昨天,有外媒采访我,让我谈奥运期间新闻和言论自由问题,我只好实话实说了。在奥运期间,管理部门不屏蔽外媒网站,我们可以自由地去游览,这确实是一大进步。但是,对网络言论的控制比以前更加严格,很多话题不能谈论,如写了这类博文也会被删除。

想不到奥运结束了,网络言论仍然没有放开。昨晚,我获知杨佳一案开庭的消息,立即写了博文发到各个博客,有的博客照样不给放行。我发在凯迪网猫眼看人论坛中的帖子,也被锁定不能予以回复。

今天上午,我又在该网发了谈杨佳案的帖子又遭锁定,网友不能加以评论和回复。

Yesterday, I was interviewed by some foreign media; they wanted me to talk about issues of press freedom and freedom of speech during the Olympics. During the Olympics, authorities stopped blocking foreign media websites, and we were free to browse them, this is definitely a big step forward. But, controls on internet speech are tighter than they were before, and many things cannot be talked about; even posts like this one will be deleted.

What I didn't expect is that now that the Olympics are over, internet speech still hasn't be let go. Last night I heard that the Yang Jia case is going to trial, and I immediately posted this out to all my blogs; some of them, as usual, wouldn't let me post. The thread I posted on the Cat898 BBS? Locked so that no-one can reply.

This morning, another thread I posted about the Yang Jia case got locked down, so netizens couldn't leave comments or respond.

中午,我给博客网一位熟悉的编辑发短信,希望能推荐一下博文《上海二中法院为何不在网上公布杨佳案开庭消息》。他回复短信称,有禁令。我又发短信询问,是以前的禁令,还是现在的禁令?他回复我说,以前的还在,现在的也有。

有网友将我的文章发到某论坛上,点击后打开不了。

正如《财经网》记者所说的,这一切是早有周密安排的。

This afternoon, I sent to a text message to a close friend who's an editor at Bokee, hoping they could feature my post “Why didn't the Shanghai #2 Intermediate Court put the information about Yang Jia's trial online>”. He texted back: there's an order. I texted back to that, asking, ‘is it an old order, or an order now?’ He wrote back: ‘the old one's still here, and there's a new one too.’

Some netizens reposted my post to a certain BBS, but if you click it, it won't open.

Just like the Caijing reporter said, this was all carefully planned long ago.

One anonymous commenter on Liu's post has written:

不让人说话,只能说明心里有鬼

(2008-08-26 13:43:55)

Not letting people speak, that just shows they must be hiding something

11 comments

  • […] postponement. But whether Yang is seen as a killer or hero, the online debate over the case appears to be getting silenced. [Global […]

  • ali baba

    Below are postings from 强國 Strong Nation forum

    杨佳袭警案开审未宣判 法院拒绝媒体入内旁听庭审安保标准高规格 ( 微不足道的呐喊 08-08-27 10:58:05 ) 1649字 ( 0/37/0 )

    Yang Jia assaulted police case court proceeding had started,not sentenced yet,court refused media entry, very high security at the court.
    老夫以为:上海案六条命,应该开个百万人公审大会,邀全球媒体旁观,以正我朝纲法 ( 西域西域 08-08-27 11:14:59 ) 0字 ( 0/15/0 )

    My opinion is:Shanghai six deaths case,should have a million people public prosecution proceeding,invite global media to attend,in order to give a good name to this Dynasty’s law and order

  • ali baba

    More from Strong Nation forum

    http://bbs1.people.com.cn/boardList.do?action=postList&boardId=1&pageNo=1

    不知杨+知道不知道他的律师在外面乱讲话出卖他的利益的事情,如果他知道了会不会提出来换律师呢? ( 搬小板凳看热闹 08-08-27 11:10:06 ) 0字 ( 0/0/0 )

    Does Yang Jia know that his lawyer is harming him by saying the wrong thing in the public,if Yang Jia knows,would he demand a change of lawyer?
    杨佳案的审理, 公众高度关注,不允许记者旁听是没有道理的! ( 都市论丛 08-08-27 11:08:49 ) 0字 ( 0/5/0 )
    The court proceeding of Yang Jia’s case,the public’s attention is very intense,there is no reason at all to refuse media attendance.

  • ali baba

    http://bbs1.people.com.cn/boardList.do?action=postList&boardId=1&pageNo=1

    More postings from 强國 Strong Nation forum

    俺强烈要求沪上精方就不公开审理羊+案,给一个理由 ( 胆小草民9997 08-08-27 11:08:48 ) 0字 ( 0/2/0 )
    I strongly demand Shanghai Police to give us a reason,why the prosecution of Yang Jia is not open to the public.

    杨+事件,是一个时代的悲哀! ( 和谐一号 08-08-27 11:08:08 ) 0字 ( 0/15/0 )

    Yang Jia’s case,represents the sadness of a whole generation

    不公开审理羊+案,,,这完全背离了一歌的“以人为本”的执政宗旨 ( 胆小草民9997 08-08-27 11:03:04 ) 0字 ( 0/60/5 )

    This prosecution proceeding of Yang Jia,with no public attendance,is a complete betrayal of Brother No.1 (Hu Jing-Tao) “Based on human” governing principle
    又不是地震预报,为什么不公开? ( 蒙柯凯洛嘎韦 08-08-27 11:07:57 ) 0字 ( 0/2/0 )

    It is not earth quake prediction,why refuse public attendance?

    正说明 时代呼吁这样的英雄 ( 俎纣温神 08-08-27 11:07:40 ) 14字 ( 0/2/0 )

    It clearly shows that it is time for this kind of Hero to come forward.
    不仅仅是审理环节———–所有环节多要在阳光下运做。 ( 星条旗永不落! 08-08-27 11:05:28 ) 0字 ( 0/1/0 )

    Not only the proceeding details——— all the details should be put under the sun-light.
    一语惊叹: 不公开审理是对中国法律的侮辱 .是对13亿人的调戏. 哈 ( 衷爱绿茶 08-08-27 11:02:55 ) 0字 ( 0/64/6 )

    This unopen court proceeding is an insult to the Chinese law and order,is a tease to 1.3 billion people.
    当局给杨佳委派的辩护律师谢有明,本身是闸北区政府的法律顾问 ( 大国奴才 08-08-27 11:06:16 ) 0字 ( 0/9/1 )

    Yang Jia’s government appointed defense lawyer Sia Yu-Ming,himself is the legal consultant of Jah Bei county government.(That is Yang Jia’s alleged crime scene)

    谢律师就是地下党. ( 蒙柯凯洛嘎韦 08-08-27 11:09:58 ) 0字 ( 0/0/0 )

    Lawyer Sia is a undercover agent of the government.

  • I don’t understand, why is Liu Xiaoyuan and others don’t use blogs outside of China? Is it because they are blocked too fast by the GFW? There are a couple of technical possibilities to prevent this. I’m happy to help: sven(at)kaputtendorf.de

  • ali baba

    http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/pubvp/2008/08/200808271253.shtml

    倪匡 a famous Hong Kong sci-fi writer,pen-name 衛斯理 ,is the author of many books.
       
    第一滴血/倪匡
    First Blood(Rambo 1)

    (博讯北京时间2008年8月27日 来稿)

    繼被網民將殺上海公安人員兇手楊佳捧為「少俠」之後,最近又在網上看到有人為他的身份作定奪,稱:「楊佳不是刑事犯,是戰犯,他是戰俘,應享受國際公法對待戰俘的待遇。
    Yang Jia,who allegedly killed 6 Shanghai police,was given a “young Robin Hood” title by admiring netizens,recently more discussions erupted on blogosphere about his “true” identity”:{Yang Jia is not a everyday criminal,he is a war criminal,he should be subjected to international treaty on war criminal}

    這一說法的理據是:楊佳發動的是一場一人戰爭,以一人軍隊,對付國家專政機器。公安機關是國家專政的重要組成部份,楊佳的行動,以一人對付公安,雖然雙方力量極度懸殊,但就性質而言,卻是一場新的中國內戰。

    The reason behind this argument being: Yang Jia started a one-man war,using a one-man army,he picked at the state authoritarian machine.Public security Bureau forms a important part of the state authoritarian system.Yang Jia’s action,single-handly took up the police,even though the differences in their power is too extreme,but if one just look at the nature of it,it really is the beginning of Chinese civil war.

    當年中國共產黨將交戰的另一方都列為戰犯,所以楊佳是戰犯,其情節應和賀龍殺稅警一樣,是革命(內戰)的開始,云云。
    In the past civil war,Chinese Communist Party called its opponents War Criminals,that is why Yang Jia is a War Criminal,it is similar to the case when He Long killed the tax police,which started the revolution(civil war). Etc etc.
    理據實在很薄弱牽強,而就算為楊佳爭取到了戰犯的身份,又有什麼用?戰犯就不能判死刑了嗎?
    This kind of argument is in fact quite weak and unnatural,and even if Yang Jia was granted a war criminal status,what use can there be?Can a war criminal escape the death penalty?

    這種意見,反映的只是民間對楊佳的一種同情。
    These kind of opinions,only reflect the folks sympathy towards Yang Jia.

    有一個論點,倒很中肯。它說,整件事,根本不應該發生。
    There is one unbiased argument:The whole thing should have never happened at all.

    起始,警察查楊佳,楊佳出示租車證明,警察就應該揮手放人。可是,由於楊佳「態度不好」,觸動了警察的神經,就開始顯威風,故意留難,不但扣留,而且「特別照顧」。警察很容易有一種自認高人一等的心態,認為被查的人,都應該恭敬溫順,不然就是冒犯。這種心態又畸形又可怕,可以釀出無數事故來。

    At the beginning,police stop Yang Jia,Yang then showed them the receipt of the renting of the bicycle,by then police should have let him go.But ,because of Yang’s wrong attitude,which had got on the nerve of the police,they then started to show off their power,made it hard for Yang,not only locked him up,and gave him “special treatment”.Police easily think that they are above the rest,anyone that being stopped at the check point,must all be soft and lame,and be respectful to the police,otherwise the police will feel offended.This kind of mentality is both twisted and terrible,at the end causing numerous incidents.
    史泰龍的電影《第一滴血》,那個警長就是抱這種心態來對付藍保的,結果,藍保發動了一人戰爭來對抗。由此可知,這種欺侮老百姓表示自己高人一等的心態,全世界警察都有,而在獨裁專制地區尤然。

    In Sylvester Stallone’s First Blood,that sheriff was having this kind of mentality when he was dealing with Rambo,at the end,Rambo started a one-man war to fight him.From this we can conclude,to bully plain folks just to show that they are above others, police all over the world also have the same mentality,much so in totalitarian dictatorship countries.
    有警察抱定老百姓好欺侮的宗旨,當然是這種想法的警察個人素質有問題,那是一種以強凌弱的行為。人類無恥行為之中,以強凌弱的排位在很前面。此所以楊佳以一人之力投入戰鬥,足以在老百姓心中,成了英雄。

    When those police have made up their mind that folks would silently accept any form of abuse,of course something is wrong with the police,they are using their power to bully the vulnerable,which rank the first among despicable and shameless human behaviors.That is the reason why Yang Jia went into war by himself,is enough to turn him into a hero in the hearts of ordinary folks.
    這英雄,是警察行為造成的。

    And really speaking,it was the police’s behaviors that help making it.

  • […] users are already reporting increased online censorship. As lawyer and legal blogger Liu Xiaoyuan recounted last […]

  • knights

    Baba, it’s ok to kill people?

  • marjourey

    He has become a symbol for the growing number of people who are
    attacking Chinese police in protest at the brutality of the state.Mr Yang has even been compared to Wu Song, one of the greatest heroes
    in Chinese literature, who killed a tiger with his bare hands.One message left on his MySpace page said: “You have done what most people want to do, but do not have enough courage to do”.

  • Rachel Page

    Why doesn’t this surprise me? Bankruptcy Attorney

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