Court says it will hear retrial in stabbings

Man sentenced to life in prison after four debt collectors attacked, one killed

A high court in Shandong province will rehear a high-profile controversial case on Saturday, in which a young man had been sentenced to life in jail for intentional injury.

Yu Huan, 22, was convicted on Feb 17 for stabbing four debt collectors who confronted him and his mother. One of the four later died.

Yu has appealed, and the Shandong High People's Court announced that the second trial will be publicly heard at 8:30 am on Saturday in courtroom No 22.

"More specifics about the trial will be posted via our micro blog," said Zheng Hongjun, the court's spokesman.

Yu, from Guanxian county of Liaocheng city in Shandong, said he and his mother Su Yinxia were confronted by debt collectors after they could not pay loans on April 14, 2016.

He claimed he stabbed the debt collectors with a knife because one of them insulted his mother by exposing himself to her.

The case quickly went viral on social media and aroused great sympathy from the public, with many saying Yu's penalty was too harsh and some criticizing how police officers handled the incident.

On March 26, the Supreme People's Procuratorate dispatched prosecutors to Shandong to oversee the case and investigate whether there was any dereliction of duty by police.

On Friday, the provincial prosecuting authority released a report saying that police involved in the case failed to control the scene effectively and failed to separate the debt collectors from Yu and his mother. But their behavior did not meet the standard for dereliction of duty.

Zhu Xiuming, 26, one of the police officers investigated, came to the scene with another two auxiliary officers after they received a call at around 10 pm on April 14, 2016, the report said.

"When Zhu arrived at the room where Yu and the debt collectors were, Zhu gave verbal warnings to the debt collectors," it said. "Considering that there were fewer police officers than debt collectors at the scene, Zhu left the room and called her police station to ask for more help."

However, Yu might have misunderstood that the police had left, so he lost control and stabbed the debt collectors, Chinese media reported.

On Friday, Guo Zengjin, deputy head of the police station, and the police officer Zhu were given a disciplinary warning by the Party and Zhu's administrative level was also lowered.

The Liaocheng public security bureau is also looking into accusations that Su, the mother, was illegally accessing public savings accounts, according to the bureau's official website.

The bureau is investigating claims that more than 50 residents provided savings to Su.

More than 20 million yuan ($2.9 million) is believed involved. The investigation is ongoing.

Related: Senior court official calls for more judicial fairness