Nanchang 'academy' defendants convicted of unlawful detention

Five people from Yuzhang Academy, which touted itself as a school to help children eliminate bad habits, were convicted of illegally detaining students after a retrial.

Four of the defendants were given ban orders for different durations from working in the education sector, along with prison terms, after a retrial at Anyuan District People's Court in Pingxiang, Jiangxi. The remaining defendant was exempted from criminal punishment.

Established in May 2013 in Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi province, the academy claimed to teach "morality training programs" that could correct children's bad conduct, such as internet addiction, unwillingness to learn and depression. The academy was run by private investors, including Wu Junbao and Ren Weiqiang.

After it was reportedly abusing and detaining students, the school was closed in late 2017.

The court said on Friday the so-called training programs consisted of the five defendants locking students in solitary confinement, which constituted the crime of unlawful detention.

According to the judgement of the court, Wu was sentenced to two years and 10 months in prison and barred from working in the education sector for five years.

Ren was sentenced to two years and seven months in prison, and obtained a ban of the same duration.

In addition, Zhang Shun and Qu Wenkuan, two other defendants, were given sentences of 22 months and 11 months in prison respectively, and both were prohibited from working in the education system for three years.

Chen Bin, a former teacher at the school, was exempted from criminal punishment after his behavior was identified as minor in the case.

When the case was handled at court, the five had provided a public apology for their offense in the newspaper, and all of them said after the retrial they would not appeal to a higher court.

The five were prosecuted for unlawful detention in February 2020 and were given prison terms by the Qingshanhu District People's Court in Nanchang in July 2020 without an education ban.

After the trial, a few plaintiffs and defendants appealed to the Nanchang Intermediate People's Court.

In December 2020, the intermediate court withdrew the original ruling and sent it back to the lower court for a retrial due to unclear facts and insufficient evidence.

In February 2021, the Jiangxi High People's Court named the Anyuan District People's Court as the venue, where the case was heard again last month.