All courts have filed cases, and netizens have filed a lawsuit against Lawyer Lao Rongzhi for infringement. Lawyer Lao Rongzhi claimed to have been insulted by netizens in Xiamen and filed a private lawsuit against Jiang Yonglin | Lao Rongzhi | Defending Rights
On November 30, 2022, the Higher People's Court of Jiangxi Province issued a second instance verdict on the case of Lao Rongzhi's intentional homicide, robbery, and kidnapping appeal, upholding the first instance death penalty verdict. At present, the case has entered the stage of death penalty review, and there has been a high level of discussion among netizens on whether the Supreme Court should approve the death penalty for Lao Rongzhi in recent months. Red Star News reporters have noticed that some netizens have repeatedly clashed with Lao Rongzhi's defense lawyer. On July 21, a netizen sued Xiong Da, an attorney entrusted by the family of Lao Rongzhi, for a dispute over network tort liability, which was filed in the Beijing Internet Court. Prior to this, Xiong Da believed that the behavior of netizens constituted insult and defamation, and filed a criminal prosecution with the court. The Haidian District Court in Beijing has also filed a case.
Xiong Da once posted videos online
Netizens sue:
Lao Rongzhi's proxy lawyer posted a video to damage his reputation
Beijing Internet Court has filed a case
Netizen Jiang Yonglin said that he is 70 years old and suffers from post-stroke sequelae. He participated in the second trial of the Lao Rongzhi case in August 2022 and extensively posted content supporting the judgment of the Jiangxi High Court on online platforms. But starting from January 29, 2023, Xiong Da, the lawyer appointed by the family of Lao Rongzhi, spread rumors and slander against him by sending him text messages and videos to spread damage to his reputation. Xiong Da also reported his verbal abuse to the Xiamen Public Security Bureau multiple times from April 10 to April 12, 2023, resulting in him being summoned and questioned twice by the Xiamen Public Security Bureau. On May 8th, the local police station in Xiamen imposed an administrative penalty of 500 yuan on Jiang Yonglin. Recently, Xiong Da accused Jiang Yonglin of insulting and slandering Xiong Da in a criminal prosecution to a court in Beijing.
Jiang Yonglin was extremely angry about this. Jiang Yonglin believes that Xiong Da's behavior seriously damages his mental and health, seriously infringing on his right to reputation and physical health. Hope the court orders Xiong Da to publicly apologize online and delete audio and video files related to Jiang Yonglin's reputation to eliminate the impact; I hope the court can order Xiong Da to compensate him with 100000 yuan for his mental damages. On July 21, the Beijing Internet Court filed a case concerning the liability dispute for network infringement.
The case of Jiang Yonglin v. Xiong Da has been filed by the court
Red Star News reporters learned from the family of Lao Rongzhi that during the review of his death penalty, the defense lawyers were Wu Danhong and Liu Changsong, while Xiong Da served as the acting lawyer for reputation rights. However, there were some changes recently. According to the law, a suspect in a criminal case can entrust one or two persons as defenders. Xiong Da obtained a piece of evidence during the review of Lao Rongzhi's death sentence. In order to facilitate the submission of evidence, Xiong Da replaced Liu Changsong as the criminal defense lawyer and submitted the above evidence to the Supreme Court through consultation with his family members. Currently, Lao Rongzhi's criminal defense lawyers are still Wu Danhong and Liu Changsong.
According to the family of Lao Rongzhi and Xiong Da, the evidence submitted by Xiong Da recently is crucial. Xiong Da believes that this evidence is "groundbreaking". The family of Lao Rongzhi stated that they have not yet received any notification regarding the results of the death penalty review for Lao Rongzhi.
Lawyer Lao Rongzhi:
Netizens involved in insults and defamation
The Haidian District Court in Beijing has filed a criminal private prosecution case
Regarding the dispute between Jiang Yonglin and Xiong Da, Xiong Da told Red Star News that he had filed a criminal prosecution with the Haidian District People's Court in Beijing. In early June of this year, he contacted the court and learned that the case had been filed. Xiong Da said that at the end of January this year, Jiang Yonglin suddenly called and texted him, but he didn't answer the phone. "I can't understand the content of the text message, it's very strange," he said. Xiong Da believes that Jiang Yonglin is harassing him.
Xiong Da stated that when he filed a criminal self prosecution request for the court to file a case and investigate Jiang Yonglin, Jiang Yonglin had already posted over 100 videos related to the case online. The video content included insulting Xiong Da and other lawyers involved in the Lao Rongzhi case, constantly releasing false information to personally attack them. Jiang Yonglin is still updating the video.
Xiong Da also admits that he has reminded and warned Jiang Yonglin of his behavior online. He claimed that his video only mentioned Jiang Yonglin once. Around April 10th, Jiang Yonglin posted a video saying that the family of Lao Rongzhi had been notified that they would meet with him on April 12th. "The meaning in his video is that the Supreme Court has approved the death penalty for Lao Rongzhi. This incident has had a significant impact, and he is spreading rumors. As the lawyer representing the reputation rights in the Lao Rongzhi case, I urgently issued a statement, pointing out that this is spreading rumors and we will hold him accountable. In addition, I have not posted any videos about Jiang Yonglin, nor have I evaluated or attacked him."
Xiong Da also believes that Jiang Yonglin's behavior has constituted the crime of insult and defamation. Currently, the Haidian District Court in Beijing has filed a criminal prosecution case against him. If Jiang Yonglin believes that Xiong Da's behavior infringes, he can file a lawsuit in court. This is Jiang Yonglin's right, and Xiong Da has no objection to this. Xiong Da also pointed out that civil cases are relatively easy to file. Generally speaking, when criminal cases and civil cases coexist, they are usually punished first and then the people.
Red Star News reporters also noticed that the media has reported on other lawyers of Lao Rongzhi being threatened with death by others. According to a report by The Paper, on June 28th, lawyer Wu Danhong, the lawyer representing Lao Rongzhi, told The Paper that two days ago, his assistant lawyer Zhao Defang received a death threat phone call. The phone said that if Lao Rongzhi is sent back for retrial or a revised verdict, he will kill Wu Danhong's entire family. On that day, Zhao Defang reported to the Changying Police Station of the Chaoyang Branch of the Beijing Public Security Bureau. On July 5th, the man who made a death threat call was detained by the police for 5 days.