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From Chinese Media

Father of executed killer sues for defamation

Updated: 2011-08-11 18:21

By Jia Xu (chinadaily.com.cn)

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The father of a student executed for killing a crash victim to cover up the accident is suing the victim’s lawyer for defamation, Guangzhou daily reported.

Yao Qingwei is suing Zhang Xian for his comments while representing the family of Zhang Miao, the 26-year-old mother who was stabbed to death in October 2010.

Yao’s son, Yao Jiaxin, was sentenced to death on April this year and executed in June after admitting he killed the young mother to cover up the hit and run accident.

In April this year, Zhang Xian tweed comments about Yao’s case that attracted millions of followers on his micro blog.

Zhang is alleged to have post: "The family background of Yao Jiaxin must be good. How could a normal university student afford to drive a 140,000 yuan car on campus?" He also posted comments sent my other bloggers.

Allegations were made about Yao’s background, but the family remained silent.

Yao Qingwei claims the posts swayed public opinion and made Yao’s situation worse. He said "Zhang’s irresponsible posts put us in a very disadvantageous position."

Zhang Xian, the defendant, said he hasn’t received the formal notice from the court, and regarded the lawsuit as ridiculous.

"To file against the original legal representative without grounded evidence is inexplicable," Zhang responded by phone, "I am not going to hire a lawyer for this case, and I will stand in the courtroom on my own."

As to the "untruthful posts", Zhang responded that he cannot scrutinize every comments provided on his micro blog, and even if some posts were untrue, why didn’t Yao Qingwei make a quick defense at that time, Zhang questioned.

"I have never heard of an accuser’s representative having to make an apology to the defendant of a murder," said Zhang.

Yao Qingwei’s lawyer, Lanhe, says Yao has quit his job due to mental stress and public hostility towards the family. They now live on a 900 yuan per month retirement pension.

"The purpose of Yao’s lawsuit is not for revenge but for "clearing his reputation and healing spiritual wounds".

"The approach of protecting one’s own right at the premise of harming another’s reputation online is harmful, there need to be a more reasonable, and better way," Lanhe added.

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