Recently, the People’s Court of Luquan District, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, publicly tried the case of Yang Liguo, a private entrepreneur from Qian’an, Tangshan, who was suspected of organizing and leading a mafia, which has attracted widespread attention.
This case involves a large number of people, spans 26 years, and has a complex background. Currently, the 19 people involved in the prosecution’s indictment are detained in Shijiazhuang. The case files and evidence materials alone amount to 79 volumes. The Shijiazhuang police have sealed, seized, and frozen assets involving 1.09 billion yuan in bank funds, 104 properties, and 8 luxury cars.
1、
Yang Liguo, 61, is from Qian’an, Hebei. In his early years, he ran restaurants and window factories, and engaged in the business of shipping mineral powder. In 1998, Yang Liguo contracted an iron mine in Zhaodianzi Town, Qian’an. In 2004, Yang Liguo acquired Xinxing Mining in Lulong County, Qinhuangdao City. After accumulating initial capital, Yang Liguo shifted the focus of his business to real estate, hotels, and other industries in the past decade. It is understood that Yang Liguo has a very strong financial strength in Qian’an.
It is understood that the Yang Liguo case was initially triggered by the “Sun Jiuli series case” designated by the Hebei Provincial Public Security Department and under the jurisdiction of the Shijiazhuang Municipal Public Security Bureau. On October 30, 2022, the Shijiazhuang Public Security Bureau, under the name of the “6·20 Special Case”, assigned the Sun Jiuli series case to the jurisdiction of the Luquan Branch. At the same time, the “Sun Jiuli case” was changed to the “Yang Liguo Organization and Leadership of a Mafia Organization Case”.
The indictment of the People’s Procuratorate of Luquan District, Shijiazhuang City, believes that: Yang Liguo recruited idle social personnel in the second half of 1998, using various violent and soft-violent behaviors such as blocking iron mines with weapons and intercepting and blocking transportation vehicles to commit 12 criminal acts and 4 illegal activities, involving picking quarrels and provoking trouble, gathering crowds to fight, illegal detention, and intentional injury, causing multiple injuries.
The prosecution believes that Yang Liguo, through organized crime, plundered the operating rights of iron mines, operated hotels and real estate projects, and used organizational power to suppress competitors, obtaining huge economic benefits, which has the typical characteristics of “using business to support the mafia and using the mafia to protect business”.
On February 17, 2023, Yang Liguo was placed under residential surveillance by the Luquan Branch of the Shijiazhuang Municipal Public Security Bureau on suspicion of picking quarrels and provoking trouble. After the case was returned to the procuratorate of Luquan District twice for supplementary investigation, it was formally prosecuted on April 30, 2024.
Yang Liguo’s defense lawyer believes that the only things truly related to Yang Liguo in this case are the 24-year-old business dispute, the 2012 demolition dispute, and the conflict between the hotel and customers. It cannot be considered that Yang Liguo organized and led the mafia just because of the occasional disputes in the lives of a few security personnel among hundreds of employees. Furthermore, it cannot be considered that Yang Liguo is a “mafia boss” because he provided funds to comfort the victims afterwards.
2、
On November 4, 2024, the Yang Liguo mafia case was publicly tried in the courtroom on the first floor of the Guoshan Hotel in Luquan, Shijiazhuang.
During the trial, the lawyer requested the court to require the prosecution to present the designated jurisdiction document of the People’s Procuratorate of Luquan District, designated by the People’s Procuratorate of Hebei Province, but the prosecution only read a written instruction to the court in the form of reading, and refused to provide it to the court, using this jurisdictional instruction as a secret document. The lawyer expressed his objection on the spot.
At the same time, the defense lawyer also found that, among the 42 interrogation records made by the prosecutor, 37 of them came from the interrogation records of the investigation agency, and even the punctuation marks were exactly the same.
And many of the case’s parties have told the court that they were subjected to torture to varying degrees during the period of designated residential surveillance.
Yang Liguo stated in court that the cases involving him in 1998, 2013, and 2015 were just fights between two companies, which were all resolved by the Qian’an Public Security Bureau and the court. “I did not commit any crimes in Luquan. There are no facts of my crimes in Luquan in the indictment either. The Sun Jiuli case and the 6·20 series case have nothing to do with me. I believe that my jurisdiction should be in Qian’an, not in Luquan.”
Zheng Aijun, a co-defendant, revealed that the Shixin Hotel, where they were designated to reside, was a particularly dark place. “They took my pants off, put essential oils there, and showed me yellow videos. When it didn’t work on me, they put a handful of essential oil on my JJ.”
Another key co-defendant in the case, Sun Jiuli, also requested in court that his arm be examined for injuries. “After I went to the detention center, my foot was swollen and I couldn’t lift my leg. After being sent to the hospital, I was given intravenous fluids for a week. After the police took me out of my home on November 2nd, the things on my hands were not untied until March 1st. Finally, they used a large clamp to twist them out. I was covered in rust. They beat me like this?”
Another co-defendant, Li Xiangdong, raised the issue of the legality of the case to the judge in court. He stated that the case involving him had already been tried in Qian’an City and should not be prosecuted again.
Regarding the months of designated residence in the Shixin Hotel, Li Xiangdong is still in fear. “Many people present have been subjected to severe torture. The first batch of people arrested were subjected to severe torture, and they were beaten so that they didn’t dare to speak. Knowing that Yang Liguo had money, they arrested Yang Liguo, and then gathered a group of people to become a mafia.”
Because his money can be taken away, if he doesn’t have money, we, the later people, would not be arrested again. Shixin Hotel is the darkest place, suffering from physical and mental torture, which still makes me fearful and afraid. I can’t eat enough every day, I wear handcuffs for a long time, and I don’t have chopsticks or spoons to eat. I eat like a dog, crawling there and gnawing.”
3、
According to the lawyer representing Li Xiangdong, a co-defendant in the Yang Liguo mafia case, the first three days of the trial focused on jurisdiction, avoidance, and the issue of public trial.
The defense lawyer submitted three requests to the judge in court:
First, to request the prosecution to provide the jurisdictional documents of the procuratorate in this case. The prosecutor has always insisted that there are jurisdictional documents from the higher-level procuratorate, but has always refused to show, review, and copy them to the defense lawyer. This is really a very strange question, and I really don’t know how many secrets are hidden in this “jurisdictional document”.
Second, to request the provision of all interrogation audio and video recordings, and to give the lawyer time to review the same recordings. Most of the defendants in this case were interrogated during the designated residence, and there is a widespread phenomenon of illegal evidence collection such as torture. The defense lawyer needs to review all the same recordings and compare the contents of the records before they can effectively question them during the court investigation stage. In mafia cases, interrogation must be recorded, which is a very clear legal provision. Comparing the same recordings and records is also an important part of the defense in mafia cases.
Third, to request the court to direct the prosecution and defense, together with the defendants, to inspect the Shixin Hotel. The Shixin Hotel is a designated residential surveillance point less than three kilometers from the court. Most of the defendants in this case spent five or six months of their lives here, which were dark and unforgettable. This place belongs to the “special detention place” where the Criminal Procedure Law and the provisions of the Ministry of Public Security on handling criminal cases prohibit arranging designated residence.
The three requests of the defense lawyer did not receive a positive response from the court.
In view of the many doubts existing in this case and the possible problems of torture during the designated residence, the agent lawyer has filed a complaint and submitted written complaint materials to the Tenth Procuratorial Department of the Hebei Provincial Procuratorate, the Hebei Provincial Letters and Visits Bureau, and the Provincial Discipline Inspection Commission and Supervision Commission.
Discover more from 自由档案馆
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.