files have accumulated to nearly 600 volumes, forming a trial report of more than 300,000 words. The second-instance trial lasted for 5 days and the judgment was 467 pages... In April 2023, the Guangdong Provincial Higher People's Court held a public trial of the second-instance gang-related case against Huang Yongcun and other 47 people in Guangdong. Judge Wang Xue of the Third Criminal Division of the Provincial Higher People's Court has left many memorable figures in his judicial career.
Talking about this case, Wang Xue was deeply moved: "This is a gang-related case with the largest number of defendants in the second instance in the history of the Guangdong High Court, and three defendants were sentenced to death in one case. It can be said that Guangdong Province has carried out a normalized sweep. The first case in the fight against gangsters."
A gang-related organization was formed to violently seize land and monopolize the market.
Speaking of the two brothers Huang Yongcun and Huang Yongyu, almost everyone in Lianjiang City, Zhanjiang, Guangdong knows about them.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Huang Yongcun started his career by slaughtering pigs in Lianjiang City, and was nicknamed "Pig Cun". Later, he and his younger brother Huang Yongyu met Wu Mousheng and Liao Mou, who had gained notoriety in society at that time. "At that time, the two of them were very famous. After getting to know them, no one dared to mess with us." Huang Yongcun said in his confession.
Relying on the "support" of Wu Mousheng and Liao Mou, Huang Yongcun and Huang Yongyu gradually cultivated their personal power in the local area. They gathered Zhong Yaguang and other "little brothers" to open casinos, fight, bully and torture in many places in Lianjiang City. The common people gradually formed their own gangs of evil forces.
In order to seize territory and dominate one party, Huang Yongcun and Huang Yongyu began to have conflicts of interest with Liao and Wu, and the two sides turned against each other. One day in October 1999, Huang Yongcun and Huang Yongyu instigated their "little brother" to shoot Liao in public and seize the territory he controlled. The conflict between the two parties further intensified. Wu Mousheng publicly stated many times: "The Huang brothers must pay with blood."
This made Huang Yongcun and Huang Yongyu very angry. They arranged for Zhong Yaguang and others to secretly follow Wu Mousheng with guns. One night in 2002, Zhong Yaguang spotted a motorcycle speeding past him. He took a sudden look and found that the person on the back seat of the motorcycle was Wu Mousheng. He immediately rushed forward and fired several shots, but the result was that He accidentally killed the driver Liang Mouhui, while Wu Mousheng fled in panic. Since then, the Huang Yongcun and Huang Yongyu gangs have gained notoriety and become an illegal "authority" that everyone is afraid of in Lianjiang.
"On the one hand, they continue to expand their sphere of influence through illegal and criminal activities such as intentional injury, opening of casinos, forced transactions, extortion, gatherings to fight, picking quarrels and provoking troubles; on the other hand, they use illegal means to monopolize the purchase of scrap iron, scrap rubber and cement clinker transportation. Markets and other industries, grabbing huge illegal profits, gradually formed a large underworld organization with Huang Yongcun and Huang Yongyu as organizers and leaders, and Zhong Yaguang and others as key members." Wang Xue said.
"According to reports from local people in Lianjiang City, if a child disobeys at home, the parents will scare him and say, 'If you continue to disobey, 'Pig Pig Cun' (Huang Yongcun) and 'Bangyanyu' (Huang Yongyu) will come over and kill him." You took them away.'" Wang Xue said that the "terror" of the organization was evident, so much so that the local people became pale when they heard about the "Huang Brothers".
"I just complained casually because they drove too fast and almost hit me, and they beat me to a bloody head. I have long heard that the 'Huang Brothers' are the famous underworld (organization) 'Big Brother', I had to swallow my anger even if I was beaten, we ordinary people cannot afford to offend him." Recalling that experience, the victim Chen was still frightened.
As Guangdong’s normalized campaign against gangs and evil continues to advance in depth, in April 2021, 47 people including Huang Yongcun and Huang Yongyu were all arrested, and the gang-related organization that had been entrenched in Lianjiang for more than 20 years was eliminated.
467 pages The final judgment was read for more than 2 hours
The Zhanjiang Intermediate People's Court sentenced the defendants Huang Yongcun and Huang Yongyu to death for organizing and leading a gangland organization, intentional homicide and other crimes in the first instance; and for participating in a gangland organization, Huang Yongyu was sentenced to death. The defendant Zhong Yaguang was sentenced to death for intentional homicide and picking quarrels and provoking trouble. The remaining 44 defendants were sentenced to suspended death to 1 year and 2 months in prison.
After the verdict was announced, some of the defendants appealed. In February 2023, the second instance of the case came to Wang Xue.
The criminal facts alleged in this case are quite complex - the crime spanned more than 20 years, there were 47 defendants, and 3 defendants were sentenced to death in the first instance. These signs indicate that the trial of this case will be a "tough battle."
However, as a judge who has tried many influential gang-related cases, Wang Xue quickly figured out the clues.
"First of all, the characteristics of the crime of a mafia-type organization in this case are relatively obvious. The court found that the organization has carried out 37 illegal and criminal acts such as intentional homicide, intentional injury, extortion, and forced transactions, resulting in the death of 2 people and the injury of 39 people. ." Wang Xue said.
"Secondly, there were obvious changes in the later stage of the case - that is, by colluding with unscrupulous businessmen, using business to support the criminals and using the criminals to protect the businessmen to clean themselves up. During the trial, we will treat them separately."
During that time, Wang Xue "immersed" herself in complicated case files every day, carefully sorting out the evidence of each criminal fact to ensure that every fact identified could withstand the test of evidence. "Any evidence raised by the defendant and his defender that is questionable will be verified again even if it has been verified before."
After fighting for more than two months, the collegial panel finally issued a 467-page criminal verdict. Wang Xue remembered that on the day the verdict was announced, it took more than two hours just to read out the key points of the verdict. "In order to enhance the effect of legal popularization, we also set up a separate venue for the sentencing, and many local people came to listen."
The thick second-instance judgment is like a "monograph", thicker than the first-instance judgment.
During that time, Wang Xue worked until 12 o'clock almost every night. "Some evidence was abbreviated in the first-instance judgment. I want everyone to see the full picture of the case through the second-instance judgment. It is necessary to extract the evidence and ensure that the evidence is legal. This workload is indeed huge." Wang Xue recalled.
htmlThe 13 defendants went from not pleading guilty to finally pleading guilty.In order to demonstrate the people's court's firm determination to crack down on the crimes of underworld forces and enhance the sense of security of the local people in Lianjiang, the second trial was held publicly in Zhanjiang.
The public hearing lasted for five days.
"During the trial, we fully protected the defendant's right to defense and allowed all defenders to fully express their defense opinions. The defendant's family, the victim's family and some local people observed the entire trial process, allowing everyone to feel the Fairness and justice are all around us," Wang Xue said.
In Wang Xue's view, procedural justice is equally important as result justice. During the trial, the rights of the defense must be fully guaranteed and allowed to fully express themselves, so that they can be convinced of the verdict.
"During the trial, one defendant believed that he was innocent and read his confession in court for more than five hours. We did not stop him, but let all the people watching the trial judge whether what he said made sense. ." Wang Xue said, "We hope to let the local people see that even if they are criminals, we will follow the law and govern according to the law."
What impressed Wang Xue was that there were three defendants in the case He went through the process from not admitting guilt at the beginning to pleading guilty at the end.
"We allowed them to fully express their opinions through the trial. During the final statement stage, three defendants expressed their pleas in court and submitted to the law, hoping to get a lighter punishment. However, they had not pleaded guilty before, which shows that after public and After a full debate, they also felt that their defense was untenable."
On June 27, 2023, the trial court of Zhanjiang Intermediate People's Court was full. Huang Yongcun and others were brought into the court one after another. Waiting for them was the senior judge of Guangdong Province. The second instance verdict of the People's Court was pronounced.
"... the ruling dismissed the appeal and upheld the original verdict. The death sentences of Huang Yongcun, Huang Yongyu, Zhong Yaguang and others were submitted to the Supreme People's Court for approval in accordance with the law." Wang Xue read the second-instance verdict for more than two hours. After reading it, her voice became hoarse and she was a little speechless.
But what pleased her was that after the verdict was announced, many people in Lianjiang clapped their hands and applauded.
"By seeing with our own eyes that gangsters are severely punished by the law, we let the people understand the determination of the judicial organs to fight gangs and eliminate evil, and further enhance the people's confidence in a better life in the future." Wang Xue said.
[Expert Comments]
Wu Xingyin, representative of the Guangdong Provincial People’s Congress, vice president of the Guangdong Provincial Lawyers Association, and director of the Guangdong Zhigao Law Firm:
The trial of this case fully achieved the unity of good political, legal and social effects
Anti-gangsters The purpose of fighting evil is to purify the air in society, support justice, and create a more beautiful and harmonious society. As Guangdong's normalized campaign against gangs and evil continues to advance in depth, the social security situation in various places continues to be stable, the business environment continues to be optimized, and the people's sense of security and happiness continues to improve.
In this case, Huang Yongcun and other 47 criminal gangs have been engaged in illegal and criminal activities such as intentional injury, opening of casinos, and forced transactions for a long time. They also illegally monopolized related industries and obtained huge illegal economic benefits, which made the local people feel angry and afraid. It has caused extremely bad social impact. The court's fair judgment has destroyed the gangs organized and led by Huang Yongcun and Huang Yongyu, which is the general trend and the will of the people.
Through this case, we can feel that the People's Court is fulfilling the goal of "strriving to make the people feel fairness and justice in every judicial case." The court not only fully protected the rights of each defendant to self-defense and statement, especially allowing one of the defendants to self-defense for up to 5 hours, but also fully, comprehensively and in detail listened to every defense point raised by the defense lawyer and carefully verified it. Every piece of evidence. How to scan for "black"
? How to get rid of "evil"? The judge in this case undoubtedly delivered a perfect answer. "Days and nights soaked in complicated case files" are the judge's ultimate pursuit of restoring the facts of the case; "five days of open court hearings and patiently listening to the defendant's speech for five hours" are the judge's firm maintenance of procedural justice; "Page 467 "The Criminal Judgment" is the judge's solemn declaration that "the punishment is worthy of the crime and the punishment is commensurate with the crime." The trial of this case fully achieved the unity of good political, legal and social effects.
Text | Reporter Zhang Hao Dong Liu Correspondent Fan Xinglong Wu Jingyi
Picture | Photo provided by interviewee
Video shooting and editing | Correspondent Li Kaixing, Huang Zhihong
