Alleged police murderer stands trial

Beijing resident Yang Jia, stood trial on Tuesday at the Shanghai No 2 People's Intermediate Court for murdering six Shanghai policemen in July this year. As we told you earlier Yang was caught and interrogated by Shanghai police for riding a stolen bicycle on October 15, 2007. After he had been released Yang sued the interrogating officers for psychological damage and later returned to the police station and killed six officers.

According to Global Voices Online, Yang has his fair share of support on the internet with netizens saying that Yang was the victim of police brutality and is therefore justified in his actions. As one might expect, the threads discussing this case have been shut down. An article in China Daily says nothing about whether a verdict has been reached or when it is expected to be.

This quote from a July edition of People's Daily, gives a hint about what was being said online about the case:

On Monday, Shanghai Municipal People's Procuratorate formally arrested Jia Xiaoyin, accusing him of slandering police and disrupting social order. The 22-year-old allegedly fabricated an Internet posting on July 2, saying Yang had revenged the police because he was beaten up and had his genitals permanently injured by police of the Public Security Bureau in Zhabei (district).