The police have filed a case, and defense lawyer Lao Rongzhi claims to have received a death threat phone call. | Beijing | Lawyer | Wu Danhong | Phone | Threat | Lao Rongzhi | Zhao Defang
The police's receipt of the case. Due to Wu Danhong's absence, the police accepted the case of Zhao Defang being threatened with personal safety. All images in this article are provided by the respondents
On June 28th, lawyer Wu Danhong, the defense counsel of Lao Rongzhi, told 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 the case to the Changying Police Station of the Chaoyang Branch of the Beijing Public Security Bureau, and the police have accepted the case.
According to the recording provided by Zhao Defang, the number from Yingtan, Jiangxi confirmed Zhao Defang's identity and said, "Don't worry who I am. Let me tell you, Lao Rongzhi has been sent back for retrial and his sentence has been changed. I will kill Wu Danhong's daughter and all members of the family. Please tell him."
There was a man on the other side of the phone. Zhao Defang asked the other side where he was. The other side said, "Anyway, Lao Rongzhi was changed and sent back for retrial. Wu Danhong was the first person to die. Wu Danhong I have his Tiktok voice..." Zhao Defang reminded his mobile phone of recording, and the other side said, "I'm not afraid of you recording.".
![The police have filed a case, and defense lawyer Lao Rongzhi claims to have received a death threat phone call. | Beijing | Lawyer | Wu Danhong | Phone | Threat | Lao Rongzhi | Zhao Defang](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/1b62f64fdb2d6069993c681449d8a4b2.jpg)
Recording of text messages from threatening phone calls: threatening phone calls received by lawyers
According to a previous report by The Paper, during the second trial of the case of Lao Rongzhi, defense lawyer Wu Danhong proposed that there was insufficient objective evidence to determine that Lao Rongzhi was guilty of intentional homicide, and that he was an accomplice to the crime committed by Fa Ziying. The court deemed these defense opinions to be inconsistent with the facts established, unfounded in law, and did not adopt them. In November 2022, the Jiangxi Provincial High Court publicly announced its verdict on this case, ruling to reject the appeal and uphold the original verdict. The death penalty ruling on Lao Rongzhi was submitted to the Supreme People's Court for approval.
In March 2023, according to public media reports, the judge of the Supreme Court heard the opinions of defense lawyer Lao Rongzhi in person, and the lawyer submitted about 200000 words of defense materials. At present, the situation of the death penalty review by Lao Rongzhi has not been announced.
Zhao Defang introduced that the threatening phone call occurred at around 3pm on June 26th. Later, he went to the Changying Police Station of the Chaoyang Branch of the Beijing Public Security Bureau to report the case. As Wu Danhong was not present, the police accepted the case of Zhao Defang being threatened with personal safety. On the afternoon of June 26th, the Chaoyang Public Security Criminal Investigation Team called to further inquire about the relevant situation.
![The police have filed a case, and defense lawyer Lao Rongzhi claims to have received a death threat phone call. | Beijing | Lawyer | Wu Danhong | Phone | Threat | Lao Rongzhi | Zhao Defang](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/a74a313ad28bac6c42972fe9b61af421.jpg)
Zhao Defang claimed that the threatening phone call was made later, but he did not answer it again. On June 28th at noon, he received a text message from the phone number, accusing Zhao Defang of leaking his phone number and causing him to be harassed. This person also claims to be a "righteous person".
Zhao Defang introduced that the legal consequences of making death threats through phone calls, such as "detention for 5-10 days according to previous practice, and some cases are also convicted of provocation and trouble making."
The public inquiry system of the Beijing Public Security Bureau shows that the case is currently progressing to "accepted".