Chao News Client Huang Lan
Recently, the movie "Article 20" has been very popular. This is a realistic movie, and the question it raises to us is: Where is the limit of self-defense? When you encounter a gangster committing evil and take action decisively, but the perpetrator is injured and prosecuted, how should you defend your right to legitimate defense?
The title of the movie "Article 20" refers to Article 20 of the "Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China", which is also what we usually call the "justifiable defense" clause. There are three cases involved in the movie. The first case is that after Wang Yongqiang was bullied (including his wife being sexually assaulted), injured, and threatened by the village bully, he resisted angrily with scissors. After the village bully died of serious injuries, Wang faced prosecution. The second case is that when prosecutor Han Ming's son Han Yuchen saw a school bully bullying his classmates, he decisively took action. The school bully was slightly injured and his father called the police. If he did not reconcile, he would face punishment. In the third case, bus driver Zhang Guisheng acted bravely to stop gangsters from harassing a young girl. However, he was convicted of intentional injury. After serving three years in prison, he continued to appeal, and was later killed in a car accident and left behind a minor child.
In the video, these three cases are unfolded in an intertwined manner. No matter who is involved in the legal incident, they will feel the same hesitation and helplessness. People live cautiously and try not to provoke anyone, but unpredictable difficulties in life will still surround us, making it impossible for us to escape.
The reality reflected by the characters in the play is divided into three levels: ordinary people, public servants, and powerful leaders. Among them, the public servants in the middle have relative decision-making power when they face ordinary people, such as the male protagonist Han Ming, etc., they are relatively Ordinary people, such as Wang Yongqiang and Zhang Guisheng, can influence their "life and death" to a certain extent, but when facing those powerful leaders, he is a small figure. He moved from the county to the city as a prosecutor. Originally, he was a small person. His sharp edges have long been polished by reality. He pleases his leaders and has high emotional intelligence in his work. He also wants to handle the Wang Yongqiang case "exquisitely". If it concerns others, he can avoid it again and again, but in the end he still has to make a choice, because the "accident" is his son. His son faced legal punishment after he acted bravely on campus, although the other party could reconcile as long as his son apologized. But the son was right: "I was not wrong, why should I apologize?" His courageous act was an act of self-defense and he should not be held legally responsible. But there is no evidence of bullying at school because the victims refused to speak out to testify.
This reminds me of a real case in reality. Some people acted bravely to save the victim, but the victim did not dare to show up to prove this brave act. If our laws are perfect enough to prevent brave people from hesitating to take action when faced with illegal infringement, or to have the courage to resist when they are illegally infringed, there will be no "trouble" after taking action, so why should people run away? When his son asked him: What should I do if I encounter such a situation in the future? As a parent, how should you respond?
The film shows the determination and courage of ordinary people when they fail to save themselves. Like Wang Yongqiang in the film, in order to treat his child, he was not allowed to borrow money from the village bully. The loan shark could not be repaid, and then the village bully started bullying him in various ways, including locking him out and sexually assaulting him in the house. His wife threatens him to bully him like this again next time. When will the end of such bullying and harm come to an end?
The shocking scene in the play is that his wife and daughter have speech disabilities. After being hurt, they were filled with anger, but could not utter a word of resistance, and used silent sign language to tell him that she wanted to die. When Wang Yongqiang heard the village bully say that he would go back to the car and get a knife to teach him a lesson, he couldn't bear it anymore and picked up the scissors and started to resist. The consequence of his "impulsiveness" was that he was sent to a detention center.
They have been enduring it. Including his wife, after he was arrested, she looked for the knife and witnesses to prove that he was in self-defense when he was forced to resist. She endured and persisted in pursuing the light of justice. Until the other party kidnapped their daughter and asked her to sign a settlement document. At this moment, she knew that she couldn't fight, and she wanted to jump to death... When reality is so heavy and overwhelming, and there is no way out, there is often only the word "death" left in the end. Death is the last resort.It takes courage to die, and the king's wife had to accept a desperate fate after trying all methods. Faced with such a tragic life, let’s ask our hearts, where is the justice at this time?
When life is dark, don't be disappointed, the sunshine of justice is breaking through the thick fog.
During the process of handling the case, prosecutor Han Ming went through a series of mental experiences, and the character's sense of justice also grew. He once handled a case where he was sentenced for a righteous act of righteousness. Although the bus driver in the case had served his sentence, he was still dissatisfied. He wanted to appeal. His righteous act of righteousness should be regarded as self-defense and should not be sentenced. .
Han Ming patiently resolved his appeal time and time again, convincing the driver many times that his behavior was an upright behavior in the face of injustice at first, but later it was an act of intentional harm. The subtle difference between the two lies in the hands of prosecutors. Sometimes legal provisions are not as simple and clear as "one is one". When someone needs to consider and judge the difference between this behavior and that behavior, it leaves the possibility of misjudgment, and this error is related to a living person. people. This requires everyone who has legal power in their hands to use this power with caution! Just as a female prosecutor in the play said: What we deal with is not the case, but other people’s lives. Han Ming also deeply saw the dissatisfaction and resistance of the bus driver, and finally died on the way to fight, leaving an isolated and helpless child. At this moment, the prosecutor who had not lost his final sense of justice "awakened". He is a prosecutor, and he holds the "public power" granted by the law. This public power does not allow him to replace his own life, nor does it allow him to block other people's sunshine. It takes courage to exercise public power correctly and to withstand pressure. He and his wife finally figured out that they had to be upright. If his son behaved like this, he could not compromise with the school bully and apologize. The worst he could do was not attend this school, or the worst he could do was return to the county. Thinking about it this way, he felt confident when handling cases. The law should be what it should be.
When he said at the hearing of Wang Yongqiang's case, my opinion is: immunity from prosecution. At this moment, the sun penetrates the fog, and they are no longer helpless in the face of the injustice of life. Just like the royal wife who jumped off the building in despair, the ending given to her by the film was lucky. She did not die. She smiled when she saw that her husband was exempted from prosecution. The law was like a ray of sunshine that shined into her heart and gave her peace of mind. She has a hint of warmth.
About the author: Huang Tingnu, whose pen name is Huang Lan, is from Cixi, Zhejiang, Master of Laws, a member of the National Public Security Federation of Literary and Art Circles, a member of the Chinese Poetry Society, a member of the Zhejiang Provincial Writers Association, a member of the Zhejiang Provincial Poetry and Couplet Society, and a member of the Zhejiang Provincial Astronomical Society. He is the author of "Huang Lan's Poetry Notes" and "The Journey of Poetry".
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