China: Yang Jia is dead · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Yang Jia (杨佳), who killed 6 police officers at Zhabei District police station in Shanghai on July 1, 2008, was executed this morning (26 of Nov, 2008). A twitter account, foreveryangjia, has been set up to express grievance towards this legendary figure.
Upon receiving the news from Yang's mother about the supreme court's approval of execution last night, human right lawyer and blogger Liu Xiaoyuan expressed his regret that the truth is yet to be revealed..
杨佳将死，真相未明！
According to Yang's testimony, he was wrongly accused by the Shanghai police for stealing bicycle in 2007 and suffered from physical abuse during the detention. However, in a close door trial in August, Yang was sentenced to death without a reasonable explanation of his intention in the verdict [zh]. Many considered the trial unfair as the lawyer that Yang's father hired were denied and the government appointed another lawyer, a legal consultant for Zhabei district government [zh], to represent Yang. More scandalous is the fact that Yang's mother, Wang Jingmei, had been kept in a psychiatric hospital [zh] run by the Beijing Police Bureau for about four months, throughout the prosecution of her son. (English briefing see Yang Jia: Stranger than Fiction)
While the government is not very committed to find out the truth, Liu Xiao-yuan tried to put the puzzle together and traced the tragedy back to Yang's mother's petition experience:
杨佳母亲王静梅是一个老上访户，2000年时，她与单位一同事发生冲突受伤。官司打到法院，她认为判决很不公，为此上访申诉了八年之久。
据媒体报道说，王静梅上访申诉材料都是儿子帮助打印。
王静梅的上访经历影响到了儿子，2007年10月5日，杨佳遭到盘查殴打后，为了投诉上海警方，购买了一千只信封，一千套邮票，一整箱复印纸。
According to the media report, her son had been helping her to print her appeal documents.
Wang Jingmei's visit petition has affected her son. In Oct 5 2007, after Yang Jia had been abused in the police station, he bought a thousand envelops with a thousand stamps and a box of papers.
但是懂得电脑的他，还是放弃了“雪片”投诉方式，而改用以电子邮件、电话投诉为主，以书面投诉为辅的方法。
经过长达九个月的投诉，警方也两次派人来北京，但没有处理好“上诉”事件，终于引爆了这起血案。
杨佳说，只是为了要一个说法，并不是为了要钱。警方称，杨佳是没有要到一万元赔偿，而报复行凶滥杀无辜。
After 9 months, the police had visit Beijing twice to investigate the issue, but they had not dealt with the “appeal” properly which leaded to this bloody explosion.
Yang Jia said he just wanted an explanation not for money. The police said Yang Jia took revenge because he did not get his 10 thousand compensation.
王静梅在安康医院见到姐姐时说，上海警方第二次进京谈处理盘查之事，她用MP3做过录音，可以证明没有要过一万元赔偿，这个关键证据被警方收缴了。杨佳出事后，王静梅没有再见过杨佳，她也是一个认死理的人，她的说法与杨佳所说能相互印证。
综合其他各方面情况来判断，我是相信母子俩所说的是真话。试想一下，警察把杨佳强拉进工作区域，又说没有打，可又不出示里面的录像；把王静梅送入安康医院强制治疗，在家属找上门来报案了，竟欺骗说已自行离开。办案机关如此蒙骗民众，谁会相信他们的说法呢？
Yang Jia's killing has been interpreted, especially on the internet, as a heroic act of challenging the unjust establishment through violence. Below is a poem written by Lu Xi-an in September 2008 that reflects the people sentiment towards Yang Jia. Counter opinion from Xinhua.net can be found in another GV's post written by Bob back in July. The poem is first posted in a sina blog and then re-posted at inmediahk.net:
2008年7月1日，
楊佳在上海出現，
隨後他便進入死去的歷史。
有人說他殺人，
有人說他沒有殺人。
他的母親也找不到了，
問員警，員警說不知道。
問法院，法院說別添麻煩了。
不久，楊佳被判死刑，
理由就是殺了6個上海員警。
儘管我們不知道真相，
儘管我們學會了沉默，
但我們不能騙自己說我們不知道楊佳。
對於上海官方來說，
從此，歷史上將不再有楊佳。
從此，他的母親也徹底失蹤了。
中國十三億人，
為什麼單單失蹤楊佳的母親，
我們還相信上海司法機關嗎？
楊佳是誰？
這個問題太難回答，
上海的員警不敢說，
上海的法官不敢說，
上海的律師也不敢說。
甚至有些人一聽到問楊佳的名字，
就會自覺地害怕。
楊佳到底是誰？
真相到底在哪里？
不知道，不知道，我們不知道。
上海之大，上海之文明，
容不下開庭公審楊佳，
容不下楊佳母親公開出面，
容不下北京律師公開為楊佳辯護，
容不下一個將死的人最後向公眾說話，
或許那就是懺悔的聲音。
楊佳是誰？
別管那麼多吧，
楊佳就是一個人，
他是13億人中的一個，
是56個民族中一個大漢民族的子弟，
他來到這個世界，
還沒有學會如何懺悔，
就已經失語了，
他來到這個世界，
僅有這點價值，
僅有這點最後機會，
卻也被剝奪了。
楊佳是誰？
別管他了，
他只是一個人，
上海有多少人，
希望以他的死來換取面子，
丟失的面子。
楊佳是誰？
我想別管那麼多了，
最後只想問一問。
楊佳到底為什麼殺人？