Woman who played role in roommate's death banned from Sina Weibo

Liu Nuanxi has been permanently banned from posting on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like platform, several days after she lost a lawsuit in which she was ordered to pay 696,000 yuan ($101,065) in compensation to her slain roommate's mother.

Liu had launched a fundraising drive on her weibo to help with the payment, eventually raking in 25,600 yuan.

"What I need to pay is a large sum of money," she posted. "Every penny raised from the online platform will be used to pay the compensation ordered by the court."

China Daily learned on Wednesday that a statement had been placed at the top of her account page announcing the ban.

According to the statement, Liu, whose username on the account was L-N-X-wisteria, had been banned for violating China's Charity Law, which states that only registered charity organizations are allowed to hold fundraisers.

Last week, the Qingdao Intermediate People's Court in Shandong province upheld a ruling handed down by a lower court in which the mother of a female Chinese student killed in Japan in 2016 was awarded compensation in a lawsuit she filed against Liu.

Early last year, the Chengyang District People's Court in Shandong ruled that Liu should pay 690,000 yuan to Jiang Qiulian, the mother of Jiang Ge, for her role in Jiang Ge's death.

Liu appealed the ruling to the intermediate court.

That court said on Friday that the original ruling was correct, adding that the facts of the case were clear and the law on which Liu was judged was accurately applied in the lower court's decision.

Under the original ruling, Liu must pay 496,000 yuan to compensate Jiang Qiulian for trial-related expenses in Japan and funeral costs, as well as 200,000 yuan for mental anguish.

The dispute between Jiang Qiulian and Liu began on Nov 3, 2016, when Jiang Ge was stabbed to death in the hallway outside her apartment in Tokyo by Chen Shifeng, Liu's ex-boyfriend. Liu had moved in with Jiang after breaking up with Chen.

Earlier that day, Liu had quarreled with Chen. Armed with a knife, he later hid in the apartment building and waited for the women to return from an evening out. When they returned, Chen began arguing with them and chased them to their apartment.

Liu ran in first and locked the door behind her, so neither Chen nor Jiang could not enter. Chen stabbed Jiang in the neck multiple times before fleeing the scene. She was taken to a hospital, where she died.

In 2017, a Tokyo court found Chen guilty of killing Jiang and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

Jiang Qiulian was dissatisfied with the ruling, saying Chen should have received the death penalty. She added that Liu was also responsible for her daughter's death because she locked Jiang out of the apartment, putting her in a position to be attacked. She also expressed anger about misinformation that Liu posted about Jiang Ge on Sina Weibo.

In 2019, she filed the lawsuit against Liu, asking for 2 million yuan in compensation.

The courts at the district and intermediate levels both agreed that Liu was at fault and that she should bear the civil punishment because she had not informed Jiang Ge of the potential danger posed by Chen, who had intimidated Liu before, nor had she taken Jiang Ge's safety into account when she locked her out of the residence.

Before Liu's Sina Weibo ban, Jiang Qiulian pointed out on Tuesday on her weibo page that although a few accounts Liu had previously used had been closed, she was still twisting the facts of the case and had even opened the L-N-X-wisteria account to set up the fundraiser.

Jiang said she reached out to one of weibo's leaders to have Liu banned.