blog template files, wherein contents of all the published blog posts and the configuration information of the blog site are saved, are able to be generated using the ‘backup’ function that comes with the blog site and be downloaded as ‘.XML’ files after signing in as the blog holder. In comparison, average internet users who browse the blog site as visitors are unable to generate and download the aforesaid template files.
7. The testimony of witness Bei [redacted] confirms that in the residence where she, the witness, and the Defendant live together as husband and wife, the northern room was used as the study of the Defendant, and the study with all the items therein was used by the Defendant himself.
8. The Defendant, upon apprehension, has confessed without reservation to the fact that he had long used his personal blog site to post a large number of politically-related essays, inciting the subversion of the state power and the overthrow of the socialist system. The Defendant has also thoroughly examined the over one hundred (100) politically-related blog posts seized and signed to confirm that they were indeed composed by him.
All of the aforesaid evidence has been cross-examined in court and is thereby confirmed by this Court.
This Court holds that the Defendant has incited the subversion of the state power and the overthrow of the socialist system by ways of spreading rumours, libel, and such; his acts have thus constituted the crime of inciting subversion of state power. Moreover, the criminal activity of the Defendant spanned a protracted period of time, and the volume of the essays he published is large. The impact he caused is thereof pernicious, and the offence constituted is therefore grave. The charges filed by the Prosecution are established. Given that the Defendant has truthfully confessed to the criminal facts upon apprehension, a lighter punishment can be given according to law. The opinion of the defence counsel that a lighter punishment be given can be adopted. In accordance with Paragraph 2 of Article 105, Paragraph 2 of Article 113, Paragraph 3 of Article 67, Paragraph 1 of Article 56, Paragraph 1 of Article 55, and Article 64 of The Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Court hereby rules that:
I. The Defendant committed the crime of inciting subversion of state power and is sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of seven (7) years, with two (2) years of deprivation of political rights and a confiscation of property of twenty thousand (20,000) Chinese yuan;
(The term of imprisonment shall be counted from the date of execution of the judgement. Where the Defendant is detained on remand prior to the execution of the judgement, one day of such detention shall be credited as one day of the sentence, that is, the term of imprisonment begins on 10 May 2021 and ends on 9 May 2028.) and
II. The seized instruments of crime, including computers and such, are to be confiscated.
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