BEIJING - Talk about facing the music.

When bad guys end up in front of Zhao Peng, the Beijing prosecutor may give them more than a talking during their arraignment.

He may actually put on some tunes.

"I realized that music was vital for criminal defendants facing severe punishments, because everyone likes beautiful things and doesn't want others to take that away, even though he or she stands at the edge of life," Zhao said.

He added that the awkward atmosphere or situation during enquiries also can be melted by music.

"I'd like to be the man who opens the door of music for those wrongdoers and leaves the pure beauty of music to them."

Zhao, 31, a graduate of international economic law from China University of Political Science and Law, is a prosecutor in the No 1 branch of the capital's prosecuting authority.

His main work is to arraign criminal defendants waiting for sentences.

His use of "music therapy" started when he arraigned a robber in detention in 2007.

The arraigned man did not cooperate with Zhao because he was tired of enquiry procedures and showed his indifference to each question the prosecutor asked.

"I was a little bit angry at that time and had no way to continue the conversation," Zhao remembered, adding he even wanted to give up if the man still ignored him.

The defendant suddenly asked Zhao whether he had listened to a song from The Shawshank Redemption, which always sailed through his mind.

"I was excited when the man talked to me and blurted out the song's name immediately, because the film is my favorite," Zhao said.

The film tells the story of a banker who spends nearly two decades in Shawshank State Prison for the murder of his wife and her lover despite his claims of innocence.

"I'm familiar with the song, because it was one selection of the opera, The Marriage of Figaro, composed by Mozart," said Zhao.

A classical music zealot, he plays many instruments, such as flute, piano and harp. He always brings disks with his laptop.

"But the song the defendant mentioned was not on my disk," said Zhao.

Instead he played another piece from the opera for the defendant who would face a long-term sentence in prison.

When the music ended, tears streamed down the defendant's face.

Later, the prosecutor arraigned another detained defendant who raped his girlfriend. That wrongdoer, in his 30s, did not feel guilty about his behavior and kept gushing about his crimes like he was talking about a drama on television, Zhao said.

"I felt he relied on ridiculous words to hide himself and I wanted him to say what he really thought before receiving his penalty," Zhao said.The defendant then started whistling The Swan, by French composer Saint-Saens.

"He was a migrant worker and knew nothing about classical music. He was imitating what his detention keeper always whistled," Zhao said.

Zhao then played the music, which made the man fall silent.

"Later he said he wished to listen to it at a concert in the future," Zhao said.

From then on, Zhao intentionally played classical music for defendants.

He often plays different pieces on his piano next to a French window at his home in the Chaoyang district of Beijing, which is decorated in an 18th-century European style.

In 2010, Zhao played Mozart's C Major Sonata - which was specially written for children - for a drug trafficker in detention who had a 4-year-old daughter. The music made the woman burst into tears.

"They (defendants) need to release themselves and the music can make it happen," Zhao explained.

"After all, punishments in prison are not the goal for wrongdoers. What they need is to find a correct way to live and rethink their crimes."

But Zhao's music therapy doesn't always work well, as some defendants have no sense of music and ignore his efforts.

"Music is not everything. It often fits those who are extremely hopeless, anxious or irate," Zhao said.

For colleagues who look down on his innovative arraignment, Zhao said he does not pay much attention to them, since they have never tried a musical arraignment.

"Zhao Peng is friendly and always has creative ideas on work," said Yang Yonghao, one of Zhao's colleagues.

"He's changed the serious or boring image that prosecutors often give to the public and made our work more interesting."

Zhao believes the melodies that move him should also bring peace for defendants, because "music is a gift that should be felt instead of being learned".

"I believe classical music will accompany my work and life forever, because no one can take the music away from me," he added.

China Daily

(China Daily 02/08/2012 page2)