Judgment based on law item that was repealed 15 years ago

A court in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, made a judgment in accordance with a law item that was repealed 15 years ago, Yangtze Evening News reported on Friday.

Zhao Dameng (not his real name), 46, a resident of Wuwei, Anhui province, was living in Jianye district, Nanjing, in April 1996.

On April 19, 1996, Zhao and his friends had a fight with several people and seriously injured a man, who later died in hospital. Zhao's friends were sentenced, but he fled for 16 years and gave himself up to police on Nov 16, 2011.

The Jianye District People's Court heard Zhao's case in May and considered that his behavior was hooliganism in accordance with the item of Criminal Law issued in 1979. Then on May 17, the court sentenced Zhao to two years and 10 months in prison, suspended for three years.

The judgment caused a stir because the item the court used was repealed in 1997. However, the court explained that Zhao's case happened in 1996 and he could be sentenced according to the old item of law.