Shandong court upholds ruling in murder of student in Tokyo

A ruling in which the mother of a Chinese female student killed in Japan in 2016 was awarded compensation in a lawsuit against her daughter's former roommate was upheld by an intermediate court in Shandong province on Friday.

In January, the Chengyang District People's Court in Shandong ruled that Jiang Qiulian, the mother of Jiang Ge, should be paid 696,000 ($100,022) by Liu Nuanxi in compensation, after it ruled Liu played a role in Jiang Ge's death.

The compensation mainly consists of 496,000 yuan for Jiang Qiulian's financial losses and 200,000 yuan for her mental anguish over the death of her daughter, the original verdict added.

Liu disagreed with the result and appealed to the Qingdao Intermediate People's Court in Shangdong.

After the second trial of the case in November, the intermediate court said on Friday that the verdict made by the lower court was correct, with clear identification of facts, correct application of the law and legitimate procedures. So it rejected Liu's appeal, keeping the original ruling and compensation.

On Nov 3, 2016, Jiang Ge, 24, was stabbed to death in the hallway outside her apartment in Tokyo by Chen Shifeng, Liu's ex-boyfriend. Liu had moved in with Jiang, as both of them came from Shandong and were friends, after breaking up with Chen.

Earlier on that day of the stabbing, Liu had quarreled with Chen. Armed with a knife, he later hid in the apartment building and waited for the women to return from an evening out.

When they came back, Chen confronted them. The three begun arguing and Chen chased the women to their apartment.

Liu walked in first and locked the door behind her, so Jiang could not enter. Chen stabbed Jiang in the neck multiple times before escaping from the scene. Jiang died after arriving at a nearby hospital.

In 2017, a Tokyo court found Chen guilty of killing Jiang and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. Jiang Qiulian was unsatisfied with that, adding Chen should have been given a death penalty.

Additionally, she said that Liu also needed to share responsibility for her daughter's death as she had locked the door when Jiang Ge was attacked outside. Furthermore, she expressed her sadness about improper information Liu had posted about her daughter on Sina Weibo, Chinese Twitter-like platform.

In 2019, Jiang Qiulian filed the lawsuit, asking for more than 2 million yuan in compensation for her financial losses and mental damage.

After hearing the case, the district court supported the mother, ruling that Liu was at fault in the accident and should bear the civil punishment, because she had not informed Jiang Ge of the potential danger posed by Chen, who had intimidated Liu before, nor had she taken Jiang's safety into account since she locked her out of the residence.

It also said Jiang Ge deserves the praise and the compensation, as she offered emergency aid to Liu. But Liu, as Jiang's friend and the one receiving the aid, did not express gratitude, nor perform the duty that guaranteed the safety of the aid provider.

The intermediate court lauded the explanations and education on the rule of law in the original verdict on Friday, saying "the judiciary should protect the life right, because it's an individual's most important personality right."

It called for the two parties in the case to respect with each other and increase communication to avoid further harms caused by the tragedy-related disputes.