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Yang JIA
Classification: Mass murderer
Characteristics:
Revenge
Number of victims: 6
Date of murder: July 1, 2008
Date of arrest:
Same day
Date of birth: August 27, 1980
Victim profile:
Six Shanghai police officers
Method of murder: Stabbing
with knife
Location: Shanghai,
China
Status:
Executed
by lethal injection on November 26, 2008
Yang Jia (Chinese:
杨佳; pinyin: Yáng Jiā;
born 27 August 1980 – 26 November 2008) was a Chinese citizen executed
for murdering six Shanghai police officers with a knife.
Yang received international media attention for the
public sympathy accorded to him in China, where, according to exiled
writer Ma Jian, Yang has become "a sort of national hero." Beijing
lawyer and blogger Liu Xiaoyuan prominently defended Yang.
Background
Yang, a jobless 28-year old Beijing resident
described as a loner was reported to have been arrested and
interrogated by the Shanghai police in October 2007 for riding an
unlicensed bicycle. According to his later testimony in court, he was
insulted during the interrogation and beaten after being brought back
to the station, leaving bruises on his arms and back. He then sued the
police for maltreatment, to no avail.
Stabbings
According to Chinese authorities and media, Yang
Jia ignited eight petrol bombs at the front gate of the police
headquarters in Zhabei, a Shanghai suburb, at about 9:40 am, 1 July
2008 – the anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party.
He then stabbed security guard Gu Jianming, who tried to stop Yang,
with a knife. Subsequently, Yang charged into the building and
randomly stabbed nine unarmed police officers, four in the lobby and
duty room and five more while making his way up to the 21st floor,
before police managed to subdue him.
Six policemen suffered stab-wounds in their lungs,
livers and necks and bled to death. Besides the knife and the molotov
cocktails Yang carried with him a hammer, a dust mask and tear-gas
spray.
Trial and execution
Yang's trial was delayed on account of the 2008
Summer Olympics. On 27 August 2008, Yang was tried behind closed doors
in a one-hour trial at the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court.
Four days later, the official news agency Xinhua announced that he had
been found guilty of premeditated murder and received a death sentence,
as had previously been expected.
The death verdict against Yang was confirmed in an
appeal trial, also conducted behind closed doors, on 20 October 2008.
The appeals court concluded that Yang was of sound mind.
On 21 November 2008, the Supreme People's Court of
China confirmed the death verdict. Yang was executed by lethal
injection on 26 November 2008.
Media coverage and public opinion in China
Yang initially benefited from unusually sympathetic
coverage in the state-controlled Chinese press. The Beijing News
pointed out that Yang's appointed lawyer, Xie Youming, might have had
a conflict of interest as he is also a legal adviser for the city
district that oversees the police station at issue. Southern
Weekend published a long, sympathetic front-page story, while
other Chinese papers hinted that Yang was wronged and demanded a fair
trial. In the week leading up to the trial, though, the Shanghai media
fell silent on the case and Chinese authorities increased efforts to
censor Chinese internet coverage on the subject.
While there was initial public anger at the
killings, Western media noted that discourse on Chinese internet
forums and blogs soon became largely sympathetic to Yang, with many
expressing suspicions that Yang might not receive a fair trial and
that the police might want to cover up wrongdoings of their own. The
Daily Telegraph quoted one Chinese blogger as praising Yang's "strong
sense of the law" and another comparing him to Wu Song, a hero in
Chinese literature. A message left on Yang's MySpace account was
reported to have read: "You have done what most people want to do, but
do not have enough courage to do."
On 13 October 2008, a public protest in support of
Yang occurred outside the Shanghai court in which Yang's appeal was
heard. According to Agence France-Presse, about a dozen protesters
wearing T-shirts with Yang's face showed up and were arrested by
police.
After his execution, Internet tributes to Yang
continued to be posted in China. Agence France-Presse reported that
very few Internet users expressed the opinion that Yang deserved his
fate, reproducing the following contribution by a Chinese forum user
as typical of many: "When you hold a knife up to the police, it's
doomed to end this way. But Chinese history will remember Yang Jia's
name forever.
U.S. 2008
Human Rights report
The U.S. Department of State's 2008 Human Rights
report mentioned Yang Jia:
"On 26 November, Yang Jia, who was accused of
killing six Shanghai police officers on 1 July, was executed following
a decision by the Shanghai High Court to uphold his conviction. Yang's
case included serious irregularities at trial, and the appellate court
deprived him an opportunity to be examined for mental illness despite
a request by Yang's new attorney to allow it".
China executes Shanghai police killer: officials
AFP
November 25, 2008
SHANGHAI (AFP) — Chinese authorities announced they
had executed an unemployed man on Wednesday who became an unlikely
cult hero after murdering six policemen in what he said was revenge
for a wrongful arrest.
Yang Jia, 28, was executed in Shanghai after
China's Supreme People's Court approved the sentence, the official
Xinhua news agency reported.
He was convicted in September of going on a
stabbing frenzy in a Shanghai police station on July 1 in revenge for
apparently being wrongfully detained on suspicion of stealing a
bicycle.
He lost an appeal against the sentence last month
after judicial proceedings that his supporters said were flawed,
complaints that were repeated on Wednesday.
"Yang Jia is dead, there are a lot of holes in the
legal process and many unanswered questions," Liu Xiaoyuan, a Beijing
lawyer who closely followed the case, told AFP.
"I just spoke to his father, he's very sad and
doesn't want to talk."
The case became a lightning rod for controversy
because it raised questions about police harassment, with some
regarding Yang as a victim who stood up to abuse commonly suffered by
marginalised people in Chinese society.
His mother, Wang Jingmei, who raised Yang as a
single parent, was also detained and placed in a mental home following
the murders, adding to the litany of complaints and alleged injustices
surrounding the case.
One other particular concern was the various courts'
refusal to look further into assertions by Yang's lawyers that he was
mentally unstable.
Wang told Xinhua on Tuesday night she received a
copy of the supreme court's judgement dated November 21.
"They said he would be executed within seven days
and that I could request a final meeting with him," she was quoted as
saying.
Officials had brought her to Shanghai to see her
son on Monday morning, a day after releasing her from the Beijing
mental institution where she had been held since the attack, Xinhua
reported.
She had no idea Monday would be the last time she
would see her son, the report said.
Little is known about Yang, a Beijing native
described as a lonely man who loved surfing the Internet and reading,
particularly art books.
He appeared to snap after police rejected his
repeated demands for 10,000 yuan (1,460 dollars) in compensation for
psychological damage he told the court he suffered after police beat
him during his overnight detention in October 2007.
Police denied any beating took place.
Yang began his attack on the police station where
he was held by igniting petrol bombs at the gates, before forcing his
way in.
He stabbed nine police officers and a security
guard, and made it to the 21st floor of the district police
headquarters before he was overpowered and arrested, according to
state media reports.
In a rare protest outside the Shanghai's Higher
People's Court at the start of last month's appeal, about a dozen
protesters donned T-shirts featuring Yang's face before they were
quickly taken away by police.
Their T-shirts had a quote from Yang reading: "If
you don't give me a reason, then I will teach you a lesson."
After the execution was reported, Internet users
posted tributes, calling him a hero.
"When you hold a knife up to the police, it's
doomed to end this way. But Chinese history will remember Yang Jia's
name forever," read one tribute that reflected many Internet postings.
Very few said Yang deserved his fate, although some
did.
"Don't forget Yang Jia is a murderer," one Internet
poster wrote.
Man who killed 6 city cops gets death penalty
By Angela Xu - Shanghai Daily
September 2, 2008
A 28-year-old Beijing native who went on a deadly
stabbing spree in a Shanghai police station in July was sentenced to
death yesterday by a local court.
The defendant, Yang Jia, has 10 days to appeal the
ruling by the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People,s Court. If the
verdict stands, the death penalty must be ratified by the Supreme
People,s Court.
Yang, wearing a blue T-shirt and dark blue trousers,
was escorted into the courtroom in handcuffs at the start of
yesterday,s session, which was attended by more than 40 people. The
handcuffs were removed, and Yang was allowed to sit before his
sentence was announced.
The accused remained expressionless during the hour-long
session and seemed unmoved even after hearing he would be executed.
During the proceeding, the court recounted a tale of revenge that left
six officers dead and four injured at the Zhabei District Public
Security Bureau.
Around 9:40am on July 1, Yang carried gasoline
bottles, a knife, a pair of gloves, tear-gas spray and a gas mask into
the police station. He set the gasoline ablaze and stabbed security
guard Gu Jianming when he tried to stop him. Yang then attacked four
unarmed police officers in the lobby and in a duty room on the first
floor, according to police testimony.
He then rushed up the stairs and stabbed five other
officers on the 9th, 10th, 11th and 21st floors. Six police officers
suffered injuries to their lungs, livers and necks and died from
massive hemorrhaging.
The court said revenge seemed to be the motive
behind Yang,s killing frenzy. Yang earlier said he was beaten by
police. But Shanghai police denied the accusation, and the court said
it could find no evidence to support the claim.
The chain of events began when Yang was questioned
by a patrol officer in Zhabei District on October 15, 2007 as he was
riding an unlicensed bicycle in an area where several thefts had
occurred.
When asked to show his ID card and provide
information about the bike, Yang refused to cooperate. He was taken to
the police station and released only after the officers were able to
confirm he had rented the bike.
Complaining of "wrongful treatment," Yang sought
10,000 yuan (US$1,465) in compensation from the police for causing him
"mental anguish." When his demands were not met, he decided to take
revenge, prosecutors told the court.
Yang was defended by Xie Youming and Xie Jin of
Shanghai Mingjiang Law Firm.
They said Yang wanted to take revenge on officer Wu
Yuhua, who was in charge of dealing with his complaint. When Yang was
stopped by other police officers, he stabbed them with a knife. The
lawyers argued that Yang hadn,t intended to kill the officers, so he
should be charged with assault instead of murder. Wu was only slightly
injured in the attack.
The lawyers also said Yang may have psychological
problems and appealed for another appraisal of his mental condition.
As psychology experts had already pronounced Yang mentally sound,
the court rejected that request.
Chinese cop-killer becomes internet hero
A Chinese man accused of murdering six policemen
has attracted increasing levels of approval and adulation from
internet users as his trial begins in Shanghai.
By Malcolm Moore - Telegraph.co.uk
August 26, 2008
Yang Jia, a 28-year-old unemployed man from
Beijing, appeared in court in Shanghai charged with an alleged attack
against the police on July 1, the anniversary of the founding of the
Chinese Communist Party.
Mr Yang is said to have thrown molotov cocktails into a police station
in Zhabei, a northern suburb of the city, before entering the building
and attacking a group of unarmed officers with a knife. He was
arrested at the scene.
However, instead of condemnation, he has received widespread approval
from Chinese internet users, or netizens, for his apparent act of
defiance.
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".
The prosecution said Mr Yang had acted out of "revenge"
after he was caught by police riding an unlicensed bicycle last
October and interrogated. He later sued the Shanghai police for 10,000
yuan (£803) for psychological damage, but his claim was rejected.
Mr Yang is rumoured to have been badly beaten and
maimed by police.
One blogger, Zi Bingyue, wrote: "Yang Jia is not
bad. He has no previous criminal record. On the contrary, he has a
strong sense of the law. He gave seats to older people on the bus and
carried luggage for weak travellers."
His father, Yang Fu, said his son must "have been
greatly wronged" and added that he hoped Mr Yang's almost inevitable
death sentence would help spur the Chinese legal system to change in
the future.
Another blogger, Qing Feng, wrote that Mr Yang had
been ground down by the reality of being unemployed in China. "He
would have self-destructed one way or another since he has lost hope.
He has no job, no degree, no income, no background, no relationship or
normal family," he said.
Since Mr Yang's arrest, his lawyers have been
uncontactable. An attempt by the Telegraph to trace them to a second-floor
office in north Shanghai was met with a simple note saying that the
office would be closed for the foreseeable future.
In addition, blogs mentioning Mr Yang have been
deleted and bloggers have been told by websites that sensitive
articles will be blocked.
