Author: Sir Lam
After the case of Liu Qiangdong, what other places deserve our attention? This article interviewed graduates of Mingda Law School and local Chinese lawyers, trying to find out more truth behind the case and looking forward to the progress of the case from a legal perspective.
For several consecutive days, Liu Qiangdong's sexual invasion case did not decrease in heat, and a wave is higher than a wave.
The events were twists and turns, far from over.
In addition to the case itself, the resulting discussion triggered a heated debate.
According to a widely circulated article, Liu Qiangdong was one of the top 10 philanthropists in China's philanthropy list, and Jingdong also provided one hundred and sixty thousand jobs with remarkable achievements. But in this case, a lot of people hit the stone on it.
The article not only gains 100, 000 + reading volume, but also gets one hundred thousand + likes, the heat is astonishingly high.
However, the slightly pale logic of the article has been questioned by quite a number of people, for example, can philanthropists not be questioned? Moreover, at present Liu Qiangdong also did not clear suspect, the unfavorable factor is more and more.
Blind support is fragile and easy to overthrow until the facts are conclusive.
Therefore, we should treat this case more rationally and objectively than simply standing in line.
Fortunately, I found my friend, the alumni of the victim, the graduate of the Mingda Law School, and the Chinese female lawyer who is engaged in litigation in the local area, Y (the general counsel of the law firm publicly speaks, can only be anonymous).
From her perspective, I found more noteworthy and interesting details of the case.
01 Liu Qiangdong "all over the body and retreat"?
Many people wonder why Liu Qiangdong returned home so quickly and smoothly.
From time to time, Liu Qiangdong was arrest on Friday night and bail on Saturday afternoon, no more than 24 hours. After he got out of prison, he was not restricted and swaggered home for business, as if nothing had happened.
A popular view of the past few days is that Liu Qiangdong was not guilty, so he was easily released, but the latest disclosures confirm that this is wrong.
Liu Qiangdong is suspected of being involved in the first-degree rape crime, the most serious type of sexual invasion case in the United States, and will face severe penalties of up to 30 years in prison and a minimum of 12 years in prison. It may be unbearable for him.
Does Liu Qiangdong have any special energy?
We can take a look at the background of the case. There were two big backgrounds at the time, the first being that Liu Qiangdong ran into the local "three-day short holiday" after his arrest, with International Labour Day on Monday and International Labour Day on Saturday, Sunday and Monday for three days.
This is the background of the holiday, which means that the judge is on leave. In his article, popular science writer Fang Zhouzi mentioned one detail: there is a 48-hour limit, and if detention exceeds 48 hours (including holidays), a judge is required to sign. But the judge was on vacation.
The second background is International Labour Day, which is almost ignored by the domestic media. Mingzhou is an agricultural state, International Labour Day in the local significance, every year will hold the State Fair (equivalent of the domestic temple fair), including various political candidates rally canvassing activities. In short, the event was a record high, attracting two hundred and seventy thousand people on September 1 alone, with a population of only 5 million.
So at that time, a large number of police were maintaining order.
The local attention to the event can be seen from one detail. After the case, a full page of local newspapers reported on State Fair, while Liu Qiangdong took up only a small piece of tofu. Little Y told me:
What Liu Qiangdong can not compare to this temple fair safety, smooth end, no stampede, safety accident important.
In other words, in the case of Liu Qiangdong, the local police force is actually insufficient, which is also an important reason for the lag in the investigation of the local police.
And why was Liu Qiangdong released from custody less than a day ago?
"Liu Qiangdong's release within a day is really a right that can be negotiated by a lawyer," Little Y told me through experience.
This may be the energy of Liu Qiangdong.
Overall, Liu Qiangdong fortunately ran into local International Labour Day, delaying the progress of the case investigation. The US police generally adopt the "presumption of innocence" principle to handle cases, in the absence of conclusive evidence for prosecution, and then by Liu Qiangdong lobbied, which led to the situation today.
02 Jingdong operation pit lawyer?
According to the above information, we can only wait for the police to handle the case. However, Jingdong preferred the whole moths.
On Sept. 1, Liu Qiangdong's incident began to detonate. On Sept. 2, Jingdong "dismissed" rumors that Liu Qiangdong had been falsely charged and found no wrongdoing after investigation by local police. As a result, local police in the United States "assaulted", said the case is not over, the case is still under investigation.
In other words, the Jingdong statement is false.
On September 3-4, Liu Qiangdong's lawyer, Friedberg, became "the protagonist of the rumour." Liu has a 99 percent chance of not being prosecuted and will even receive an apology from the police, he told U.S. and Chinese media.
This is widely cited, to a large extent, dispelling people's doubts. At the same time, Liu Qiangdong successfully returned to China and attended a business event on the afternoon of September 4. After the release of his energetic photos, it was even more believed that the incident had been settled.
However, on the morning of September 5, further disclosure of the case, Liu Qiangdong suspected of the first-degree rape crime. The variable of the case has suddenly become larger.
If Jingdong's announcement is not surprising, it is just a company's comments. But American lawyers have misled many, and their professionalism is questionable.
Small Y points out:
Lawyers may have made such statements as part of a public relations effort to build momentum. But this is also a double-edged sword. In the course of an investigation, lawyers should present the facts and should not overstate their words, as they are vulnerable to being 'beaten in the face' and undermine the credibility of the subsequent defence. This is basic professional common sense.
Of course, things may not be that simple.
Friedberg has more than 40 years of defense experience, as well as defending multiple executives, athletes and politicians. It is reasonable that he will not make such a low-grade mistake.
In fact, he received very little information. First of all, he had very little time to contact Liu Qiangdong. Liu Qiangdong was bail on Saturday afternoon, while the Jingdong side contacted Friedberg on Saturday morning. He and another lawyer named Gray went to prison to meet Liu Qiangdong and talked only a few words. The follow-up was only on the phone, and never formally met.
More importantly, one detail was mentioned in media reports that, at the time of Friedberg's comments, he did not know exactly what had led to Liu Qiangdong's being accused by arrest.
In other words, the information Friedberg received, in fact, was provided unilaterally by Jingdong, and his remarks are more likely to be given unilaterally by Jingdong.
Little Y also said to me:
I've seen a lot of lawyers trapped by clients. In the United States, confidential communications between lawyers and clients are constitutionally protected, and if clients lie to lawyers and argue that they didn't do it, lawyers are hard to refute. So professional lawyers at the beginning of the investigation will be very cautious in the wording of the public notice, no big deal, because lawyers can not turn over to say that the client initially lied.
This means that the Jingdong side may exist "pit lawyer" behavior.
Why is Jingdong so secretive? At present, we can only agree with the logic that the greater the error, the more afraid of exposure.
In this respect, American capital markets seem to be more acute. Jingdong shares fell nearly 16 percent in two consecutive days on Tuesday and Wednesday, losing more than $7.2 billion in market capitalisation and losing about 7.65 billion yuan to Liu Qiangdong's fortune.
On the afternoon of Sept. 5, three U.S. lawyers announced they would investigate whether Jingdong had misdisclosed Liu Qiangdong's case and invited shareholders who lost more than $ one hundred thousand to participate in the investigation and possible class action.
03 if Liu Qiangdong is a first-degree rape crime,
As mentioned above, there are more and more unfavorable factors about Liu Qiangdong.
In addition to Liu Qiangdong's involvement in the first-degree rape crime, the North American International students Daily tweeted on the evening of September 5 that the following information was disclosed:
The victim was invited by his mentor Cui to participate in Liu Qiangdong's dinner and arranged at Liu's side, during which time he was advised to drink a lot. After the dinner, Liu sent the victim back to his place of residence. At two in the morning, the victim called his classmate B, wanted to send Liu Qiangdong away, B heard the news and called the police. After the police arrived, the victim initially wanted to calm down, and then called the police at the school's suggestion.
The article was deleted two hours after it was published, and can be seen to be sensitive.
Comprehensive information, Liu Qiangdong encountered more and more crisis.
In this regard, I asked Xiao Y Liu Qiangdong related legal issues related to the case. Liu Qiangdong's real troubles may be far from beginning.
First of all, many people may wonder if Liu Qiangdong has returned home, even if he committed crimes, the United States will be helpless, and China and the United States lack extradition regulations, Liu Qiangdong can get away with impunity, just as Jia Yueting stranded in the United States.
But the problem is not too much to worry about. Little Y said:
Police arrest means that more than 50% of potential crimes have occurred. Liu Qiangdong's age and career, do not answer, do not accept investigation will greatly affect his future career and business. In the future, travel to the United States or its country will also pose a risk of arrest when entering the country.
Jingdong is listed in the United States, and as of Feb. 28, 2018, Liu Qiangdong had a 15.5 percent stake in Jingdong and 79.5 percent of the voting rights. Mr Liu must face it, or countless Jingdong investors and one hundred and sixty thousand Jingdong employees will be at risk.
Secondly, many people care about the victims. As we all know, in the sexual invasion case, the victim can come forward to charge is almost the biggest factor that affects the development of the case, is also the biggest difficulty.
So far, the U. S. police have not disclosed any privacy of the victims, although there has been a suspected online picture outflow, but has not been confirmed, the amount of information is not large.
It is worth noting, however, that according to information disclosed by the North American International Student Daily, the scene took place at the victim's residence, most likely without a third person present.
In extreme cases, the victim's statement or other evidence will be the only evidence to prove the truth of the case.
Therefore, the victim may need to testify in court and be questioned by lawyer Liu Qiangfang. Although this process may cause two or three injuries to the victim, it is possible.
Third, what way can Liu Qiangdong escape and reduce punishment?
This is also a lot of people care, after all, Liu Qiangdong can pry the power of ordinary people can not imagine.
First of all, if the final investigation is insufficient evidence, prosecutor will not prosecute Liu Qiangdong. But what if there's enough evidence?
Some people may ask, if the victim does not prosecute Liu Qiangdong, Liu Qiangdong and the victim unilaterally conciliate, can Liu escape? But Y told me:
Because the crime of sexual assault has a criminal prosecution of public prosecution, the suspect faces the public prosecutor. So this situation is impossible. There are many ways to reconcile, because it can reduce the cost of justice, and it is also a way for criminal suspects to control risks.
The premise, however, is that a settlement must be made in the event of a guilty plea, so that the level of punishment will generally fall by one level. The final result is decided by the District Court and sentenced by the judges, who are the most authority.
The above is the operation of criminal cases, the information must be made public. But if the victim brought a civil suit against Liu Qiangdong, the information here is not required to be made public.
In general, if Liu Qiangdong commits rape crime, its fate is terrible. Of course, Liu Qiangdong also has room to move, will the negative impact to a minimum.
04. A protracted battle.
There is no doubt that this is a protracted war, things are far from as simple as we think, even if Liu Qiangdong crime, also need to go through a long litigation process.
So, the only thing we can do is stay focused and wait for further disclosure of local police investigations.
On the other hand, do not blindly support or deny Liu Qiangdong. Pressure on Jingdong, however, is necessary because they have done too many wrong things to confuse right and wrong, and it is legal and necessary for listed companies to disclose the information they have obtained in a timely and accurate manner.
It is worth noting that there is also something worth learning about this case. Local police in the United States, for example, have completely blocked the victim's information and protected her privacy.
Finally, it ends with a Time line published by Little Y, which is a wake-up to some of the country's outspoken remarks:
The case was not verified by any channel
On the carnival spread of prostitution, whoring news, is this appropriate?
Fair to the victim?
To protect our victims is to protect ourselves.
Because, who knows we're not next?