China: Headline vs. Law
Truth-seeking or troublemaking?
The Law
Anyone who commits any of the following acts of provocation and disturbing social order shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years criminal detention or public surveillance:
Beating others at will and the circumstances are egregious;
Chasing, intercepting, or insulting others in a serious manner;
Taking forcibly or arbitrarily damaging or occupying public or private property, if the circumstances are serious;
Making trouble in public places, causing serious disorder in public places. [Article 293 of the Criminal Law of the PRC].
The Headline
The Record
The defendant, Zhang Zhan, female, born on September 2, 1983 in Sanyuan County, Shaanxi Province, Han nationality, with a master's degree in cultural studies, unemployed, registered at 162 Changli Road, Pudong New Area, Shanghai, and residing at Room D307, 158 Xuanhuang Road, Pudong New Area, Shanghai.
In August 2018, she was warned by the Hongkou Branch of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau for inciting subversion of state power using the international internet.
In April 2019, she was administratively detained for one day by the Pudong Branch of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau for provoking trouble.
In November 2019, she was administratively detained for ten days by the Huangpu Branch of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau for disrupting public order.
May 15, 2020, she was criminally detained by the Pudong Branch of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau for suspected provocation and troublemaking.
June 19 2020 she was arrested.
The Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Procuratorate accuses the defendant Zhang Zhan of entering Wuhan, Hubei Province on February 3, 2020, and disseminating large amounts of false information through online media like WeChat, Twitter, and YouTube, and accepting interviews from overseas media like Radio Free Asia and The Epoch Times, maliciously hyping the situation of the new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic in Wuhan, with a wide audience and a negative impact.
To prove the above accusation, the public prosecution agency read out and presented relevant witness testimonies, expert opinions, and other documentary evidence in court, and based on this, it is believed that Zhang Zhan should be held criminally responsible for the crime of provocation and troublemaking, and requests the court to sentence her according to the law. During the trial, the defendant Zhang Zhan did not acknowledge the charges in the indictment. Her defense counsel raised objections to the jurisdiction and argued that the evidence in the case was flawed and unable to prove that the texts and videos sent by the defendant Zhang were false information. The texts sent by the defendant Zhang were records of her personal experiences in Wuhan, and did not fabricate false information. Even if there were some inaccuracies in the content, they were within a tolerable range, and the defendant should not be held criminally responsible for the crime of provocation and troublemaking. The above facts have been confirmed by the following evidence presented and verified in court: 1. Testimonies and related article photos of witnesses Huang Qian, Chen Youwen, Cheng Yi, Hou Li, Hao Junfeng, and Wang Gongxi, which confirm that in mid-February 2020, Zhang Zhan sent them and others WeChat messages containing commentary on the epidemic situation of the new coronavirus infection in Wuhan. Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Court Criminal Judgment (2020) Hu 0115 Xing Chu 4002 No. The public prosecution agency is the Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Procuratorate. China Change.
The Opinions
Zhu Zhengfu, a delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and vice-chair of the All China Lawyers Association, said in 2022 that the law's "legal ambiguity breeds room for selective law enforcement, damages the public's legal interests and undermines judicial credibility." Zhu argued in 2022 that the law should be eliminated. Critics have said the offense is ill-defined, arbitrarily applied and facilitates the abuse of state power.