Why did the woman turn from private prosecution to public prosecution when she took the courier and was rumored？ Supreme inspection： causing serious damage to social order
The case of Hangzhou women’s express delivery being rumored continues to receive attention. On February 2, 2021, Miao Shengming, director of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate No.1 Prosecutor’s Office, said in an online interview that the procuratorial organs played a role of legal supervision, which promoted the case from private prosecution to public prosecution. This case has a benchmark significance in punishing cyber crimes and protecting citizens’ personal dignity according to law.
Interface news previously reported that Ms. Hangzhou Gu went downstairs to pick up the courier, and the supermarket owner Lang Moumou next to her sneaked it. Then this 9-second video and dozens of forged chat records made Ms. Gu a "derailed courier". The protagonist of the network rumor.
On August 13, 2020, Yuhang Branch of Hangzhou Public Security Bureau issued a police report saying that after investigation, for the purpose of eye-catching, suspects Lang Moumou and He Moumou fabricated ambiguous WeChat chat content, and sent screenshots of Gu Moumou’s video and chat content to WeChat group, causing adverse social impact. According to the provisions of Article 42 of the Law on Public Security Administration Punishment, administrative detention penalties were imposed on Lang Moumou and He Moumou for slandering others.
On October 26, 2020, Gu Moumou filed a criminal private prosecution with the Yuhang District People’s Court in Hangzhou, demanding that the criminal responsibility of Lang Moumou and He Moumou be investigated for defamation on the grounds that Lang Moumou and He Moumou fabricated facts and slandered the private prosecutor Gu Moumou through the Internet and the circumstances were serious. Yuhang District People’s Court of Hangzhou decided to file a case on December 14th of the same year. Then, on December 25th, 2020, according to the suggestion of Yuhang District People’s Procuratorate of Hangzhou, Yuhang Branch of Hangzhou Public Security Bureau filed an investigation on the suspected defamation case of Lang Moumou and He Moumou. The case changed from criminal private prosecution to public prosecution.
The case was selected as one of the top ten legal supervision cases of the national procuratorial organs in 2020. Earlier, at the press conference held by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate on January 25, Zheng Xinjian, member of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate Committee and director of the Fourth Procuratorate Office, said that in response to online defamation and other acts that seriously disrupted the public order in the online society, the procuratorate suggested that the public security organs put on record the case of "Hangzhou women taking express delivery was rumored" for investigation, and promoted the criminal private prosecution case to be turned into public prosecution, so as to send a strong signal to the society that "cyberspace is not a place outside the law".
Miao Shengming said that in this case, the perpetrator randomly selected the object to fabricate false information, spread it quickly through the Internet, and maliciously slandered others, which not only seriously damaged the victim’s reputation and personal dignity, but also spread it quickly through the Internet, causing cyber violence, which was far from the influence scope of traditional community communication, and the social harm was far beyond the victim’s personal endurance, which affected the confidence of the onlookers in the rule of law, personal safety and social governance, and actually caused serious damage to social order.
"The investigation, prosecution and trial of this case in accordance with the public prosecution procedure can not only punish crimes in time according to law, but also educate and guide the majority of netizens to realize that the Internet is not a place of extra-legality, and freedom should have boundaries in any space. Defamation is an act that seriously endangers the personality rights of others and social order, and it is an act that should be punished by punishment." Miao Shengming said.
Miao Shengming believes that this case is handled as a public prosecution case according to law, which not only solves the problem that the parties in private prosecution cases have difficulty in obtaining evidence, but also strengthens the governance of cyber crimes, purifies cyberspace, and establishes the concept that "cyberspace is not a place outside the law", which is conducive to comprehensively promoting online and offline social governance. "The transfer from private prosecution to public prosecution is an innovative application of" handling only after telling "in Article 246 of the Criminal Law, which embodies judicial wisdom and courage." Miao Shengming said.
In recent years, due to the development of mobile phones and network technology, the number of netizens in China has increased year by year, and cyberspace has inevitably become an activity area that is closely related to people’s lives outside the real space. Due to the concealment of the network, low illegal cost, difficult investigation and other reasons, online crimes have increased. Spreading rumors on the network may involve not only insulting and slandering crimes, but also the crime of seeking trouble. If you deliberately spread false information that endangers the state power or involves epidemic situation and disaster situation, it may also constitute incitement, subversion of state power, fabrication and intentional dissemination of false information.
Miao Shengming said that in the next step, the procuratorial organs will abide by the objective and fair obligations, play a leading role in criminal proceedings, punish cyber crimes according to law, actively respond to citizens’ legal protection needs in the cyber society, and at the same time, guide the majority of netizens through typical case education, consciously regulate online behavior and jointly safeguard the cyber order.
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