Tag Archives: Death Penalty

Nie Shubin Case

Nie Shubin Case: China’s Wrongful Execution and the “One Case, Two Perpetrators” Dilemma (1994–2016)

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I. Prologue: Two Lives in a Cornfield

On August 5, 1994, a rape and murder occurred in a cornfield in Kongzhai Village in the western suburbs of Shijiazhuang. The victim, Ms. Kang, a worker at the Shijiazhuang Hydraulic Parts Factory, was in her thirties. Crime scene examination showed that the perpetrator raped Ms. Kang and then strangled her to death with a shirt.

A month later, on September 23, Nie Shubin, a young man from Xia Nie Zhuang Village, Luquan City, Shijiazhuang, was taken away by the police. He was twenty years old and worked at the factory run by the Luquan Comprehensive Vocational Technical School. The police determined that he was the perpetrator in that cornfield. On October 9, Nie Shubin was approved for arrest.

From arrest to execution by firing squad, only seven months passed.

Ten years later, in January 2005, the police in Xingyang, Henan, captured a man from Guangping, Hebei, named Wang Shujin. During interrogation, Wang Shujin voluntarily confessed to multiple rape and murder cases, and one of them made the investigators pause: he said that in the summer of 1994, in a cornfield in the western suburbs of Shijiazhuang, he had raped and killed … Read More

Suzhou Doctor Qiu Xiaoqiang Killed Wife Gu Su

Suzhou Doctor Qiu Xiaoqiang Killed Wife Gu Su with Ketamine on Mid-Autumn Festival 2003 — Autopsy, Murder Trial and Death Sentence

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On September 11, 2003, it was the traditional Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, a day for families to reunite, admire the moon, and eat mooncakes. But for Professor Gu’s family in Suzhou, this day marked the beginning of their nightmare.

At 9:55 that evening, Professor Gu, who was about to go to bed, received a call from his eldest son-in-law Qiu Xiaoqiang, saying that he was taking his wife Gu Su to the hospital and asking Professor Gu to come quickly.

Professor Gu’s drowsiness immediately vanished. Gu Su was his eldest daughter. A month earlier, she had suddenly developed heart disease, and a week before that, she had been rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment once.

On September 4, a week earlier, when he and his wife hurried to the hospital, their daughter Gu Su was being taken into the emergency room.

At that time, Gu Su’s face was pale, and she was clutching her chest. When she saw her father Professor Gu, she tightly grasped his hand and said with all her strength, “Dad, save me quickly!”

Qiu Xiaoqiang was Professor Gu’s favored student and also his eldest son-in-law. Looking at Qiu Xiaoqiang waiting anxiously outside the emergency room, Professor … Read More

Shenzhen Family Murder 2013 1

Shenzhen Man Who Raped and Killed Daughter, Wife and Son Sentenced to Death: Full Case Timeline

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On the morning of February 19, 2013, at 10 a.m., police in Bao’an District, Shenzhen, received a report. The caller, Mr. Liang, had been unable to contact his sister Ms. Liang, his nephew, and his niece for several consecutive days. Worried that something had happened to the three of them, he called the police for help.

According to Mr. Liang, his sister Ms. Liang, shortly after the New Year holiday, took her son Yang Jun and daughter Yang Ying from Dongguan to Shenzhen to reunite with her husband Yang Fei. After his sister arrived in Shenzhen, Mr. Liang wanted to check on them out of concern, but for several days in a row he could not reach them. Mr. Liang also did not know where his brother-in-law Yang Fei lived, so he could not go looking for them himself.

After receiving the report, the police quickly retrieved Yang Fei’s temporary residence information in Shenzhen from their computer system and located his residence. After knocking on the door for a long time with no response, the police brought the landlord of the rental apartment and successfully opened the door. The police did not find anything unusual inside the apartment, and Yang … Read More

Li Changkui Case

Li Changkui Case: Yunnan Man Executed for Raping and Murdering 18-Year-Old Girl and Her 3-Year-Old Brother

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Wang Jiafei was an 18-year-old girl living in Yingge Village, Maozu Township, Qiaojia County, Yunnan Province—a remote area surrounded by mountains, with poor transportation and a backward economy. Her father was Wang Tingli, her mother was Chen Lijin, and she had an older brother, Wang Jiachong, and a 3-year-old younger brother, Wang Jiahong. Her dream was to leave the mountains as soon as possible and live in Kunming, the provincial capital.

Villager Li Shunqiang had three sons, and Li Changkui was his youngest. Li Changkui and Wang Jiafei had known each other since childhood, and the two had once worked together in Kunming. During that time, Li Changkui developed feelings for Wang Jiafei and pursued her persistently. The two had lived together for a period.

Li Shunqiang said that when Li Changkui and Wang Jiafei were working together in Kunming, they liked each other and established a romantic relationship.

However, Wang Jiafei’s family did not agree with Li Shunqiang’s claim that the two were in a romantic relationship. They all said that it was merely Li Changkui’s one-sided wish.

Wang Jiafei’s father, Wang Tingli, said he strongly disliked Li Changkui. He believed that Li Changkui was already thirty years old, … Read More