Translator's Note: Qin Yongpei was a civil rights lawyer who first became a target of police investigations in 2015 during the "7.09 Crackdown." Police detained him in 2019 and on March 31, 2023 a court sentenced him to five years imprisonment and three years deprivation of political rights for inciting subversion of state power on the grounds that he used social media to "sow doubt amongst the populace about our country's State regime and socialist system." While the court's judgment did not specify which social media posts caused such doubts to be sown, the police's prosecution recommendation listed the content of several Sina Weibo and Twitter posts that it deemed "reactionary":
- "The most terrifying thing about Chinese characteristics is that evil controls everything,"
- "The sun is already setting on Chinese characteristics,"
- "Chinese characteristics are a wellspring for hooligans,"
- "The people's congress system is the most shocking system in the world and it is the root of corruption,"
- "Mainland China has chosen a road of no return,"
- "All power belongs to the people, as is the case in Taiwan, but it does not work in mainland China,"
- "Corruption with Chinese characteristics has rotted at the root, and their days are numbered..."
- "100 years is too long, they still want to live for generations to come ....."
- "If they won't die, we won't have a good life,"
- "Action can change China, and they are most afraid that ordinary people will stand up and fight together …"
Below is a full translation of the police's prosecution recommendation. The Chinese version was created by running images of the court judgment through OCR software. I have tried to proof the OCR version, but some errors in transcription may remain.
Public Security Bureau of Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
Indictment Opinion
Nan Public Indictment (2020) No. GB001
Criminal suspect Qin Yongpei, male, born September 12, 1969, personal ID No. [INTENTIONALLY OMITTED], Han ethnicity, college education, native of Heng County, Guangxi, household registration No. 2, Jiangbin East Road, Hengzhou Township, Hengxian County, Guangxi, currently residing at No. 1603, Unit 2, Building 2, No. 38, Xining Road, Xixiangtang District, Nanning, formerly managing lawyer of the Guangxi Baijuming Law Firm. In May 2018, criminal suspect Qin Yongpei's lawyer's practice license and lawyer's practice certificate were revoked by the District Justice Department in accordance with the law on the grounds that the obtained his lawyer qualification and lawyer's practice certificate illegally. On November 1, 2019, criminal suspect Qin Yongpei was taken into criminal detention by the Public Security Bureau of Nanning on suspicion of committing the crime of inciting subversion of state power. Based on an authorization from the People's Procuratorate of Nanning, on December 3, 2019, this office carried out his arrest. He is currently being held in custody at the Nanning No. 1 detention center in Guangxi.
The case of criminal suspect Qin Yongpei being suspected of disturbing the peace, defamation, and inciting subversion of state power, was discovered by the public security agency in the course of its work. In the process of investigating, the Xixiangtang Precinct of the Public Security Bureau of Nanning and the Public Security Bureau of Nanning opened cases and carried investigations on July 15, 2015 and October 15, 2019, respectively. Criminal suspect Qin Yongpei was apprehended and brought to justice on November 1, 2019. The investigation in this case has now concluded.
Following an investigation in accordance with the law it has been ascertained:
Owing to his own personal reasons, criminal suspect Qin Yongpei developed a hatred of the Communist Party. He believed that he had been subjected to unfair treatment in cases in which he was acting as a lawyer. After joining a "China human rights lawyers service group" he fell under the influence of Western democratic ideology, and developed resentful thoughts toward China's people's democratic dictatorship, the State regime and the socialist system and public power. He vented his personal dissatisfaction with the State regim and socialist system.
Since 2015, Qin Yongpei has successively registered 78 accounts on Sina.com, including: "Guangxi Lawyer Qin Yongpei," "Baijuming Lawyer Qin Yongpei," "Baijuming Brotherhood," "Pei Gongjun Guishang," "Missing You Positive Energy," "Bare-headed Qin Yongpei," "Bai Juming Black Stone," "Guangxi Fengshui Master," "Taishan Controversy," and "Nanning Fengshui Master."
Without considering the consequences, he edited, posted, and reposted over 900 reactionary statements on the Internet that wantonly manufactured rumors and defamed, including: "The most terrifying thing about Chinese characteristics is that evil controls everything," "The sun is already setting on Chinese characteristics," "Chinese characteristics are a wellspring for hooligans," "The people's congress system is the most shocking system in the world and it is the root of corruption," "Mainland China has chosen a road of no return," "All power belongs to the people, as is the case in Taiwan, but it does not work in mainland China," "Corruption with Chinese characteristics has rotted at the root, and their days are numbered..."
Beginning in May 2017, he downloaded the foreign "Twitter" APP software on his mobile phone, registered and logged in through "wall climbing" methods, and used "Twitter" to post more than 20,000 tweets. It has been ascertained that currently more than 180 inciting statements were published, including "100 years is too long, they still want to live for generations to come ....." "If they won't die, we won't have a good life," and "Action can change China, and they are most afraid that ordinary people will stand up and fight together …," inciting subversion of state power and the overthrow the socialist system, and flagrantly attacking and smearing our Party's former and current State leaders.
In addition, criminal suspect Qin Yongpei also actively intervened in and sensationalized certain sensitive and hot-button issues in China, distributed a large number of inciting and demagogic statements on the Internet, flagrantly engaging in manufacturing rumors, defaming, and inciting others to subvert China's State regime and socialist system, attacking the State legal system, and using public opinion to incite and provoke dissatisfaction and confrontation toward government agencies and judicial agencies at all levels among Internet users who do not know the truth. Since 2015, over a long period of time, he posted a large number of statements on the Internet about incidents such as the Nanning Beibu Gulf building materials market dispute case, the Liuzhou Cheng Jie illegal business case, the Yulin Tan Aijun case, the Heilongjiang Qing'an County train station shooting incident, the Wenzhou Zhang Kai case, and the Changsha Xieyang disrupting court order case, maliciously sensationalizing, distorting facts, and wantonly engaging in manufacturing rumors and defamation, inciting Internet users to pay attention, and provoking people who did not know the truth to hate the State regime and government agencies. This severely jeopardized national security and social stability and severely smeared the image of Party and government agencies, causing severe chaos in social order and public order, causing an extremely offensive political influence.
The evidence determining the aforementioned criminal facts is:
Case acceptance registration forms, Decision to Open a Case, Apprehension Process, household registration evidence, search warrants, search records, materials seized in the case, evidence collection materials, electronic data, electronic evidence investigation records, documentary evidence and screenshots, remote crime scene investigation work records, crime scene investigation records, photographs from the scene, schematic diagrams of the scene, criminal suspect Qin Yongpei's statement and justification, and witness testimony.
The aforementioned criminal facts are, clear, the evidence is reliable and copious, and is sufficient to reach a determination. After being taken into police custody, although criminal suspect Qin Yongpei cooperated with the public security agency to investigate the case, he refused to plead guilty and admit punishment, and it is recommended that the judiciary deal with him more harshly in accordance with the law.
In summary of the foregoing, criminal suspect Qin Yongpei engaged in activities such as manufacturing rumors, defamation, and other means to incite subversion of state power and the overthrow the socialist order, this was the commission of an offense under the provisions of Article 105(2) of the "Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China", and he is suspected of committing the crime of inciting subversion of state power. In accordance with the provisions of Article 162 of the "Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China," the case will be transferred to the prosecution agency for pre-prosecution examination.
It is hereby addressed to the People's Procuratorate of Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
Public Security Bureau of Nanning
Attachments:
1. 5 volumes (868 pages) of case files.
2. Criminal suspect Qin Yongpei is currently being held in custody at the Nanning No. 1 detention center in Guangxi.
March 3, 2020
广西壮族自治区南宁市公安局
起诉意见书
南公诉字【2020】GB001号
犯罪嫌疑人覃永沛,男,1969年9月12日生,身份证号[INTENTIONALLY OMITTED],汉族,大学文化,籍贯广西横县,户籍所在地广西横县横州镇江滨东路2号,现住南宁市西乡塘区西宁路38号2栋2单元1603号,原系广西百举鸣律师事务所主任律师。2018年5月,犯罪嫌疑人覃永沛因违法获得律师资格和律师执业证书,被区司法厅依法撤销律师执业许可、注销律师执业证书。犯罪嫌疑人覃永沛因涉嫌煽动颠覆国家政权罪于2019年11月1日被南宁市公安局刑事拘留,经南宁市人民检察院批准,我局于2019年12月3日对其执行逮捕,现羁押在广西南宁市第一看守所。
犯罪嫌疑人覃永沛涉嫌寻衅滋事、诽谤、煽动颠覆国家政权一案,由公安机关在工作中发现。经过审查,南宁市公安局西乡塘分局、南宁市公安局分别于2015年7月15日、2019年10月15日立案进行侦查。犯罪嫌疑人覃永沛于2019年11月1日被抓获归案,该案现已侦查终结。
经依法侦查查明:
犯罪嫌疑人覃永沛因其个人原因而对共产党产生仇恨,认为其作为律师在代理的案件中遭到不公平的对待,并在加入“中国人权律师服务团”后受西方民主思想的影响,对我国人民民主专政国家政权和社会主义制度及公权力产生怨恨思想,并发泄其个人对国家政权和社会制度的不满。
自2015年以来,覃永沛先后在新浪网注册名为:“广西律师覃永沛”、“百举鸣律师覃永沛”、“百举鸣兄弟会”、“沛公军桂上”、“正能量就缺你”、“光头覃永沛”、“百举鸣黑石”、“广西风水大师”、“泰山之争”、“南宁风水师”等78个账号,在互联网上不计后果大肆造谣、诽谤,编辑发表、转载:“中国特色最可怕的地方就是邪恶控制了一切”、“中国特色已经日落西山”、“中国特色就是流氓出身”、“人民代表大会制度是世界上最令人震惊的制度是贪污腐败的根源”、“中国大陆选择的是一条不归路”、“一切权力属于人民,台湾地区就是如此,不过在中国大陆是行不通的”、“中国特色的腐败已经烂到根部,他们时日不多了...”等反动言论900多条,2017年5月开始其在手机上下载境外“推特”APP软件,通过“翻墙”方式注册和登陆使用“推特”发表2万余条推文,现查明其发表的:“100年太久,它们还想千秋万代......”“它们不死,我们就没有好日子过”、“行动能改变中国,它们最怕老百姓一起站出来抗争...”等煽动性言论180多条,煽动颠覆国家政权,推翻社会主义制度,公然攻击和污蔑我党已故和现任的国家领导人。
此外,犯罪嫌疑人覃永沛还积极插手和炒作国内一些敏感、热点案事件,在互联网上大量发表带有煽动、蛊惑性质的言论,公然进行造谣、诽谤,煽动他人颠覆我国国家政权和社会主义制度,攻击国家法律制度,利用舆论煽动、挑起不明真相的网民对各级政府机关和司法机关产生不满和对抗情绪,2015年以来其针对南宁市北部湾建材市场济纠纷案、柳州市程洁非法经营案、玉林谭爱军案、黑龙江庆安县火车站枪击事件、温州市张凯案、长沙谢阳扰乱法庭秩序等案事件,长期在互联网上大量发布言论,恶意炒作,歪曲事实,大肆进行造谣、诽谤、煽动网民关注,挑起不明真相的人对国家政权及政法机关的仇视,严重危害国家安全和社会稳定,严重抹黑了党政机关的形象,造成社会秩序和公共秩序严重混乱,造成极为恶劣的政治影响。
认定上述犯罪事实的证据有:受案登记表,立案决定书,抓获经过,户籍证明,搜查证、搜查笔录、扣押的涉案物品,调取证据材料,电子数据,电子证据检查笔录,书证截图,远程勘验工作记录,现场勘验笔录、现场照片,现场平面示意图,犯罪嫌疑人覃永沛供述和辩解,证人证言等。
上述犯罪事实清楚,证据确实、充分,足以认定。犯罪嫌疑人覃永沛到案后,虽配合公安机关开展案件调查,但其拒不认罪认罚,建议司法机关依法予以从重处理。
综上所述,犯罪嫌疑人覃永沛以造谣、诽谤及其他方式煽动颠覆国家政权,推翻社会主义制度的行为,触犯了《中华人民共和国刑法》第一百零五条第二款之规定,涉嫌煽动颠覆国家政权罪。依据《中华人民共和国刑事诉讼法》第一百六十二条之规定,拟将此案移送审查起诉。
此致
广西壮族自治区南宁市人民检察院
南宁市公安局
附:1、本案卷宗5卷868页。
2、犯罪嫌疑人覃永沛现羁押在南宁市第一看守所。
二〇二〇年三月三日
