Sidelights on Yang Jia’s case of assaulting a police officer： Why is he so crazy and cruel？ (figure)

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　　At 9: 30 am on October 13th, the case of Shanghai Yang Jia assaulting a police officer was opened in Shanghai Higher People’s Court. The picture shows the opening information of the case published on the electronic screen of Shanghai High Court. China News Agency issued Pansofi photo

　　Today (13th) morning, the Shanghai Higher People’s Court heard the case of Yang Jia assaulting a police officer in the second instance of the Fifth Trial Chamber. About 130 people from all walks of life attended the hearing, including Yang Jia’s father, Yang Fusheng, and menstruation Wang Jingrong, and more than 30 journalists, including several Hong Kong media, also attended the hearing.

　　The lawyers defending Yang Jia are Zhai Jian, director of Shanghai Zhaijian Law Firm, and Ji Jianqing, lawyer of Shanghai Branch of Beijing Dacheng Law Firm. It is understood that Zhai Jian is good at criminal defense. In 2005, he won the title of national excellent lawyer, and in 2007, he ranked first in the first "Oriental barrister" selection. Sitting on the prosecutor’s seat are Ji Gang, director of the Public Prosecution Department of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Procuratorate, and other prosecutors.

　　At 9: 30, the presiding judge Wei Xu announced the trial.

　　With the deepening of the trial, the bloody scene that happened in Shanghai Zhabei Public Security Bureau on July 1 this year reappeared in front of people.

　　Cruel killing

　　At 9: 40 this morning, Yang Jia took eight beer bottles filled with gasoline and dropped two (unburned) beer bottles next to the gate of Zhabei Branch on Tianmu West Road, and threw five bottles at the flower bed on the west side of the gate, which burned and caught fire. After the security guard saw it, he immediately went to stop and organize the fire fighting. Yang Jia also threw a beer bottle at the security guard. While the security guard was fighting the fire, Yang held a 29-cm-long single-edged boning knife and wore a dust mask, and ran into the building through the convenience service channel of the branch office.

　　After entering the door, I saw the security guard Gu Jianming on the phone, and Yang Jia slammed his head with the handle, causing Gu’s head to be lacerated. Subsequently, Yang Jia attacked the policemen Ni Jingrong, Fang Fuxin, Zhang Yijie and Zhang Jianping at work in different places, such as the lobby aisle on the ground floor and the public security duty room, with a knife in one hand and tear gas in the other. The live TV surveillance video broadcast by the court clearly shows that in just 7 seconds, all four policemen caught off guard were stabbed to the ground.

　　Soon, Yang Jia broke into the south fire stairs from the first floor and climbed to the ninth floor. When he met Xu Wei, a policeman, Yang launched a sudden attack on Xu with a knife, and Xu fell to the ground after being stabbed in many places. Later, Yang ran to the 10th floor, raised his knife and stabbed Wang Lingyun, a policeman he met, causing injuries to Wang’s right shoulder and chest. Then, Yang ran up to the 11th floor and met Li Ke, a policeman. He stabbed Li Ke several times, and Li Ke’s chest and abdomen were hit hard. After that, Yang Jia ran to the 21st floor along the fire stairs and stabbed Wu Yuhua, a policeman waiting for the elevator. After being injured, Wu Yuhua called loudly to remind his colleagues to pay attention, while returning to the office to find counterattack weapons. Lin Wei and Li Wei, policemen who are working indoors, immediately got up and prepared to round up. Yang Jia broke into the office and rushed to Lin Wei waving a dagger. Lin Wei took advantage of the opportunity to hold the office chair and struggled to resist. Kong Zhongwei, a policeman next door, rushed in when he heard the news and hugged Yang Jia regardless of his body. Kong Zhongwei, Li Wei, Lin Wei, Wu Yuhua, and the policemen Chen Wei, Rong Kanmin and Huang Zhaoquan Qi Xin who arrived later worked together to hold Yang Jia firmly against the corner with an office chair, seize the weapon in his hand and subdue the ferocious Yang Jia.

　　The sudden tragedy eventually caused six deaths and four injuries to police and security guards.

　　In court, Yang Jia replied "unclear" or "can’t remember clearly" to the prosecutor’s questions about his murder process on July 1.

　　And the following words of lawyer Zhai Jian’s emotional questions and Yang Jia’s indifferent questions and answers made the audience ring with a buzz.

　　"Six fresh lives have died because of you. Do you think you have gone too far now?"

　　"Not too much!"

　　"Do you feel guilty?"

　　"Don’t be embarrassed!"

　　What makes Yang Jia so crazy and cruel?

　　Did the police ever beat Yang Jia?

　　According to the information provided by the police, on the evening of October 5, 2007, when Yang Jia rode an unlicensed bicycle through the Pushan intersection of Zhijiang West Road in Zhabei District, he was searched by the patrolling police of Zhijiang West Road Police Station. Yang was taken to the police station for further investigation because he refused to show his identity document and provide proof of the source of the bicycle he was riding, which caused the public to watch and affected the traffic. After finding out his true identity and bicycle rental, the police released Yang after patiently educating him, although he did not cooperate during the interrogation and repeatedly insulted the police, which hindered the normal law enforcement of the police. Afterwards, Yang repeatedly complained to the supervision department of the Municipal Public Security Bureau and Zhabei Public Security Bureau through letters and visits, e-mails, etc., and put forward unreasonable demands for dismissing the relevant police officers and compensating them for 10,000 yuan of mental damage compensation, arguing that he should not be investigated. In this regard, the police believe that the police’s law enforcement is well-founded and there is nothing improper. The inspector detachment went to Beijing twice to publicize the legal system and persuade Yang Jia, but Yang ignored them.

　　In the court, the law enforcement process recorded by the on-site police with a voice recorder was broadcast for 36 minutes. Although the background was noisy, the patient persuasion of the police and Yang Jia’s violent impulse were still like people. A live video broadcast by the court at the gate of the police station on Zhijiang West Road shows that several policemen took Yang Jia, who was active at the gate, to the back room. According to the testimony of several policemen, they were afraid that Yang Jia would run away because the case had not been ascertained. Yang Jia insisted that he was "carried into the back room by seven or eight policemen, fell to the ground, punched and kicked for two or three minutes, and his body was bruised in several places, and his clothes and trousers were torn and stained".

　　But then the prosecutor produced an e-mail complaint letter sent by Yang Jia to the Shanghai Public Security Bureau shortly afterwards, which did not mention the fact that he was beaten by the police at all. Yang Jia said that some of the contents of this email were not written by him.

　　The application for a new psychiatric evaluation was rejected.

　　On July 5, the Shanghai police entrusted the Judicial Appraisal Center of the Institute of Judicial Appraisal Science and Technology of the Ministry of Justice to conduct a judicial psychiatric appraisal of Yang Jia. The judicial appraisal book concluded that Yang Jia was "not mentally ill and had full criminal responsibility".

　　Defense lawyers and prosecutors have had a heated debate about whether Yang Jia has mental illness and whether it is necessary to re-evaluate his mental health.

　　Lawyer Zhai Jian believes that Yang Jia has abnormal performance and paranoid personality disorder from the aspects of cognition, impulse control, communication and emotion. Especially in 2006, he had a conflict with the police in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, which caused three broken front teeth, bloodshot fundus and mild concussion, which probably induced abnormal brain activity. Moreover, the psychiatric appraisal done in July was only two days in time, which was a bit hasty. Therefore, he suggested that Yang Jia should be given another spiritual appraisal to show the fairness and justice of the law.

　　Prosecutor Ji Gang believes that Yang Jia’s judicial spirit appraisal is very cautious and scientific. If there is no newly discovered evidence, there is absolutely no need to re-appraise.

　　Yang Jia showed indifference in court today, so that the presiding judge once interrupted the trial and solemnly told Yang Jia, who was sitting in a chair, "Please pay attention to your sitting posture." Yang Jia said, "I personally think my spirit is normal."

　　The court subsequently announced that "the lawyer’s request for re-evaluation of Yang Jia was not sufficient and was rejected".

　　In the final statement, Yang Jia still has no remorse and thinks that he has been law-abiding and innocent for decades.

　　The trial lasted until 6: 30 pm. The court finally announced that the case would be pronounced on another day. (Reporter Liu Jian)

Editor: Wang Jiaolong