Illegal detention with accompanying civil lawsuit case

[Case Introduction]

Defendant Liu, male, 27 years old, was originally a police officer at the Shangqiu Station of the Zhengzhou Railway Public Security Bureau.

The illegal detention case of Liu was filed for investigation by the Zhengzhou Railway Transport Procuratorate on May 19, 1997. On June 28, 1997, the procuratorate filed a public prosecution with the Zhengzhou Railway Transport Court. The indictment established the following criminal facts:

On May 9, 1997, around 16:00, passenger train No. 706 arrived at Mulan Railway Station. When duck vendors Zhang Jia and Zhang Yi were unloading ducklings from the luggage car, Liu's wife Zhang Bing demanded ducklings from them and was refused. Defendant Liu and police officer Xiao Liu (handled in another case) who came to take over immediately insisted on checking tickets, leading to a dispute, and they got into a scuffle with Zhang Jia, Zhang Yi, and farmer Feng. Liu and Xiao Liu handcuffed Zhang Yi and Feng under the pretext of assaulting police and obstructing official duties, forcibly pushing them onto the luggage compartment of train No. 706. During the train's journey, Liu used Feng's belt to beat Zhang and Feng. When the train reached the 658-kilometer mark on the down line of the Beijing-Jiu Railway, frightened Zhang Yi and Feng took advantage of Liu's negligence to jump off the train while handcuffed. Zhang Yi died on the spot, and Feng sustained minor injuries. According to forensic identification, Zhang Yi died from a fall, resulting in dislocation of the cervical vertebra and severing of the spinal cord.

The victim's family member Zhao also filed a civil lawsuit with the Zhengzhou Railway Transport Court.

[Case Analysis]

On August 14, 1997, the Zhengzhou Railway Transport Court held a hearing and concluded that defendant Liu illegally detained others, causing injury and death, which constituted the crime of illegal detention. The criminal behavior of defendant Liu and the actions of the civil lawsuit defendant Xiao Liu caused economic losses to the victim, and they should bear civil compensation liability. The reasonable parts of the victim's lawsuit request should be supported. In order to maintain the legitimate rights and interests of social security and combat criminal offenses, according to Article 140, Paragraph 2, Article 31, Article 60 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China and Article 119 of the General Principles of Civil Law of the People's Republic of China, it was ruled that: (1) Defendant Liu was sentenced to ten years in prison for the crime of illegal detention; (2) Defendant Liu and civil lawsuit defendant Xiao Liu were ordered to jointly compensate civil lawsuit plaintiff Zhao and others for living allowances, support fees, medical expenses, mental damages, transportation fees, funeral expenses, death compensation, and educational subsidies for minor children, totaling more than 63,700 RMB; (3) Defendant Liu and civil lawsuit defendant Xiao Liu were ordered to jointly compensate civil lawsuit plaintiff Feng (the victim) for medical expenses, hospitalization fees, nursing fees, nutrition fees, transportation fees, totaling 5,300 RMB.

[Case Result]

According to Article 140, Paragraph 2, Article 31, Article 60 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China and Article 119 of the General Principles of Civil Law of the People's Republic of China, it was ruled that: (1) Defendant Liu was sentenced to ten years in prison for the crime of illegal detention; (2) Defendant Liu and civil lawsuit defendant Xiao Liu were ordered to jointly compensate civil lawsuit plaintiff Zhao and others for living allowances, support fees, medical expenses, mental damages, transportation fees, funeral expenses, death compensation, and educational subsidies for minor children, totaling more than 63,700 RMB; (3) Defendant Liu and civil lawsuit defendant Xiao Liu were ordered to jointly compensate civil lawsuit plaintiff Feng (the victim) for medical expenses, hospitalization fees, nursing fees, nutrition fees, transportation fees, totaling 5,300 RMB.

After the first-instance judgment, defendant Liu was dissatisfied with the criminal judgment, and civil lawsuit plaintiff Zhao was dissatisfied with the civil part of the judgment, both filed appeals. On November 4, 1997, the Zhengzhou Railway Transport Intermediate Court held that the first-instance judgment had clear facts, accurate characterization, and legal procedures. Therefore, it ruled: to reject the appeal and uphold the original judgment.

[Relevant Laws]

Relevant provisions of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China

Article 31: For crimes committed by units, fines shall be imposed on the unit, and criminal penalties shall be imposed on the directly responsible supervisors and other directly responsible personnel. If there are other provisions in this law or other laws, those provisions shall apply.

Article 60: Before confiscating property, legitimate debts owed by criminals that need to be repaid with confiscated property shall be repaid upon the request of creditors.

Article 140: Producers and sellers who mix, adulterate, use fake for real, use inferior for superior, or sell unqualified products as qualified products, with sales amounts of more than 50,000 RMB but less than 200,000 RMB, shall be sentenced to imprisonment of less than two years or criminal detention, and shall be fined or solely fined not less than 50% and not more than double the sales amount; for sales amounts of more than 200,000 RMB but less than 500,000 RMB, they shall be sentenced to imprisonment of more than two years but less than seven years, and shall be fined or solely fined not less than 50% and not more than double the sales amount; for sales amounts of more than 500,000 RMB but less than 2 million RMB, they shall be sentenced to imprisonment of more than seven years, and shall be fined or solely fined not less than 50% and not more than double the sales amount; for sales amounts of more than 2 million RMB, they shall be sentenced to imprisonment of more than fifteen years or life imprisonment, and shall be fined or solely fined not less than 50% and not more than double the sales amount or confiscated property.

Article 119 of the General Principles of Civil Law of the People's Republic of China: For injuries caused to citizens' bodies, compensation shall be made for medical expenses, lost income due to work interruption, living allowances for the disabled, etc.; in case of death, funeral expenses and necessary living expenses for those who supported the deceased during their lifetime shall also be compensated.