The second instance of Nanjing female college students’ murder case rejected the appeal and upheld the original judgment.

According to the news of Yunnan Court Network, on September 20, 2022, the Higher People’s Court of Yunnan Province publicly pronounced the cases of intentional homicide of appellants Hong Jiao, Zhang Chenguang and Cao Zeqing, theft of appellant Hong Jiao and defendant Qi Wenqiang in the original trial, and ruled that the appeal was dismissed and the original judgment was upheld.

On July 7, 2022, the Intermediate People’s Court of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture made a first-instance judgment, and sentenced the defendant Hong Qiao to death for intentional homicide, deprived of political rights for life, sentenced him to two years and six months in prison for theft, and fined him 10,000 yuan. He decided to execute the death penalty, deprived of political rights for life, and fined him 10,000 yuan. The defendants Zhang Chenguang and Cao Zeqing were sentenced to death for intentional homicide, suspended for two years and deprived of political rights for life; The defendant Qi Wenqiang was sentenced to two years in prison for theft and fined RMB 8,000. Li Sheng and Chen Shouping, plaintiffs in incidental civil action, were allowed to withdraw the lawsuit. After the verdict, Hong Jiao, Zhang Chenguang and Cao Zeqing refused to accept it and appealed. The Higher People’s Court of Yunnan Province accepted the case on July 20, and formed a collegiate bench according to law, and held a public hearing on August 26.

The second instance of Yunnan Higher People’s Court found that in early July 2020, the appellant Hong Qiao had a conflict with his girlfriend Li Mouyue (the victim, who died at the age of 21), so he invited the appellants Zhang Chenguang and Cao Zeqing to help kill Li Mouyue and make a crime plan. Hong Qiao designed in advance to trick Li into buying a plane ticket from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province to Jinghong City, Yunnan Province on July 9, and provided funds and some tools for committing crimes. He led Zhang Chenguang and Cao Zeqing to rehearse the killing methods many times and explained the details of the crime and the requirements of regular reporting, and instructed Zhang Chenguang and Cao Zeqing to fly from Nanjing to Jinghong City in advance to the agreed location of the crime, Pu ‘er Tea Park in Menghai County, and to buy shovels to dig holes in advance. At about 21 o’clock that day, Li Mouyue was lured to the crime site, and Cao Zeqing and Zhang Chenguang killed and buried Li Mouyue.

In May 2019, the appellant Hong Jiao instructed Qi Wenqiang, the defendant in the original trial, to steal a monocular night vision device (worth 18,000 yuan) in a resort in Nanjing.

The Higher People’s Court of Yunnan Province held that the appellants Hong Jiao, Zhang Chenguang and Cao Zeqing deliberately and illegally deprived others of their lives, and their actions all constituted the crime of intentional homicide. Hong Jiao and Qi Wenqiang, the defendant in the original trial, secretly stole a large amount of other people’s property for the purpose of illegal possession, and their actions both constituted theft. Hong Qiao is guilty of intentional homicide and theft, and should be punished for several crimes. In the joint crime of intentional homicide, Hong Jiao was the perpetrator of the crime, and carried out specific organization and command actions, provided corresponding funds and some tools for committing crimes, designed to lure the victim Li Mouyue to the crime site, and provided Li Mouyue’s itinerary information, with the most prominent guilt; Zhang Chenguang, Cao Zeqing and Hong Qiao conspired to commit murder, which together led to Li’s death, with equal guilt, and all three were the principal offenders. Hong Jiao ignored other people’s lives, committed a cruel crime, was extremely harmful to society, and committed a very serious crime. Moreover, he retracted his confession and denied that he had instructed the killing of Li Mouyue, and he had no remorse and should be punished according to law. Zhang Chenguang and Cao Zeqing’s culpability in the joint crime is less than that of Hong Qiao’s, and they have frank circumstances. It is in line with the principle of adapting the culpability and punishment to the death penalty. The judgment of first instance found that the facts were clear, the evidence was true and sufficient, the conviction was accurate and the sentence was appropriate. The trial procedure is legal. Therefore, the aforementioned ruling was made.

During the trial of the Higher People’s Court of Yunnan Province, the litigation rights of all litigants were guaranteed according to law. Close relatives of the parties, some deputies to the National People’s Congress, CPPCC members, media reporters and representatives of the masses attended the trial and pronounced the verdict.