Lawyer explains 'justifiable defense' in fatal stabbing case

"Justifiable defense." On Saturday, the local police in Kunsha, East China's Jiangsu province concluded this about a case involving Yu Haiming, who, after being attacked by Liu Hailong with a long knife, picked it up and stabbed the latter to death.

A screen shot from a video showing the knife attack in Kunshan, Jiangsu province. [Photo/IC]

Zhao Lei, a partner lawyer and vice director of the Beijing Zewen Law Firm, said the decision has three advantages.

First, according to the Criminal Law,

"If a person acts in defense against an on-going assault, murder, robbery, rape, kidnap or any other crime of violence that seriously endangers his personal safety, thus causing injury or death to the perpetrator of the unlawful act, it is not undue defense, and he shall not bear criminal responsibility."

However, in judicial practice, that clause has so seldom been applied that some call it a "sleeping" clause. The Kunshan case has actually "woken up" the "sleeping" clause, which will in turn encourage citizens to practice their legal right of self-defense.

Second, there is a "modest constraint" principle for Criminal Law, namely it is a last defense of social order, and the judiciary should not apply it to every case. In the Kunshan case, the police and the procuratorate have followed this principle.

Third, in the whole process, both the police and the procuratorate have kept positive interaction with the public. The law has granted judicial departments the responsibility of spreading the sense of rule of law among the public, and the local police and procuratorate have honored that duty.

Luo Longping, a criminal-defense lawyer at Beijing-based Jingsh Law Firm, said the case has set a visible standard for justifiable defense. Ordinary citizens will know what is justifiable defense in the future.

Besides, as the top leadership vowed to uproot all organized crime gangs and their "protective umbrellas", the case encourages people to fight against crimes more bravely in the future.

In an editorial on Saturday, China Daily said "it is wrong to treat this case as merely a victory of public opinions".

"In each of their steps, the local police and procuratorate strictly followed the law. They never bent and legal clause to please public opinion."

"Actually, the more attention they get from society, the more cautious the police and procuratorate will be. It is illusive to believe public opinions can bend the law in an age when everybody has a camera and a microphone."

"We hope the judiciary will be equally strict when dealing with other cases that do not have such strong attention from society. Every case deserves serious treatment and justice", it commented at the end.