Legal lessons in the art of self-defense

Man who fatally stabbed loan shark tells of appeal and battle for early release from prison

At noon on Nov 18, Yu Huan went home, had a shower and a haircut and donned a new set of clothes as part of a ritual to mark his fresh start in life.

A few hours earlier, the Intermediate People's Court of Liaocheng, Shandong province, ruled Yu could be released five months early from his five-year prison term for the crime of intentional injury. The court granted Yu early release based on his guilty plea, actively undertaking rehabilitation and prison authorities' praise for his good behavior while incarcerated.

"It felt a bit unreal even though I had wanted to go home early every day. When this day actually came I thought I was still living in a dream," he told Beijing News.

Yu, 26, was initially sentenced to life imprisonment in February 2017 by the same court over an intentional injury case, which sparked national debate over the boundaries of self-defense.

The incident, in April 2016, resulted from his mother Su Yinxia's involvement with loan sharks. Su, who ran a car parts manufacturing business, had borrowed 1.35 million yuan ($206,000) from an illegal lender with a monthly interest rate of 10 percent. After paying back 1.84 million in principal and interest and handing over property worth 700,000 yuan, Su had still not paid off her debts.

On April 14, a group of 11 debt collectors barged into the office in Su's factory and held her and Yu hostage.

They verbally abused Su, slapped her face and muffled her mouth with shoes, according to a Southern Weekly report. After an hour, one of the debt collectors, Du Zhihao, took off his pants and insulted Su in front of Yu using "extreme methods", the report said without going into details.

Although police were summoned, they failed to stop the verbal abuse and told the debt collectors they could demand payment, but warned them "not to beat people".

After the police left, Yu took out a knife and in desperation stabbed out randomly, injuring four people, including Du who later died in hospital from his injuries.

Yu said when he received the life sentence he accepted it calmly as he had expected the outcome. He said he was not interested in appealing the ruling, but his aunt was waiting outside the detention center and told his lawyer she would not leave until Yu signed the appeal form.

"It was raining with a bit of snow that day. My lawyer told me if I didn't sign, my aunt would stand in the rain the whole time. So I eventually signed the appeal," he said.

His life sentence generated widespread outcry after being made public, with many people questioning the severity of the term and whether Yu's reaction could be justified as self-defense.

In June 2017, on appeal, Shandong Higher People's Court overturned the initial ruling and reduced the sentence to five years, pronouncing Yu's actions were a form of self-defense, "but obviously excessive".

Yu said: "It was like riding a roller coaster. After all the ups and downs there was finally an end."

However, his family members had legal problems of their own. Eight months after Yu was detained by the police, his mother, father and older sister were detained by the police and charged with illegally collecting public deposits. They were prosecuted and received prison terms ranging from three to four years. Yu's mother and sister have since been released, but his father is still in prison.

Yu said after Su was released she visited him once in prison, but at that time he didn't notice any difference in her appearance. It was not until he was set free that he realized his mother's hair had turned gray.

"I didn't know my mother had dyed her hair when she came to see me. I had never seen her with gray hair," he said, adding it made him feel very sad.

In November 2018, former gang leader Wu Xuezhan was sentenced to 25 years' prison by the Dongchangfu District People's Court in Liaocheng for masterminding crimes including illegal detention and intentional injury. Another 14 members of the gang, which was involved in Yu's case, were given sentences ranging from 24 months to 20 years, with fines from 60,000 to 400,000 yuan.

Yu said "looking back at that time" he realized his impulsive behavior had brought irreparable pain to the victims and their families. "As for my mother, I only wish she would not blame me," he said.

He said not all of the loan collectors were bad, but there were many of them in the factory office and he felt scared. "I didn't have time to analyze or judge anything, I just wanted to protect my mother," he said. After more than four years in prison, Yu said he didn't hate the debt collectors who insulted his mother, but he did regret breaking the law.

"The price to pay is too high," he said. "From life imprisonment, when my heart sank, to five years, there was a huge change. Now at least I can return home at a young age and make contributions to my family," he said, adding that seeing them in familiar surroundings was a dream come true.

Yu said the biggest adjustment he has had to make on the outside is the wide use of smartphone payments.

"Now that I am free, I want to learn things and spend more time with my family. As for a long-term plan, I will consider that later. For now, it is good enough to have an ordinary life," he said.