Man sentenced for abuse that led to ex-girlfriend's suicide

Mu Linhan, who mentally abused his ex-girlfriend, causing her to commit suicide, was sentenced to three years and two months in prison by a Beijing court on Thursday for maltreatment.

Mu was also ordered to pay more than 730,000 yuan ($101,754) in compensation to the victim's mother, according to the ruling announced by the Beijing Haidian District People's Court.

The case drew massive public attention when the victim, a Peking University student surnamed Chen, took drugs in 2019 after being repeatedly chastised about her sexual past by her then-boyfriend Mu, who was also a student at the university.

After laying comatose for about five months, Chen, 24, died. Her death was ruled a suicide.

According to previous reports, police soon discovered Mu's abuse of Chen after reviewing messages between the couple on her WeChat account and other materials. Not long after, Mu was detained by police.

News of her death went viral, sparking heated discussion among Chinese netizens' about mental abuse and whether Mu's behavior amounted to it.

Chen's mother told media after her daughter's death that Mu was upset because Chen had had sex before their relationship. He did not want to end his relationship with her, but he used the fact she was not a virgin to psychologically abuse her, she said.

Some Chinese netizens at that time accused Mu of being a pickup artist, someone who uses psychological tricks to get women to sleep with them.

On Thursday, the Haidian court identified Mu's behavior as maltreatment in line with the Criminal Law, clarifying that it was his long-term abuse of Chen that led to her deteriorated mental state and caused her death.

The court posted a statement, specifying that Mu and Chen began dating in August 2018, and they lived together between Sept 16, 2018 and Oct 9, 2019. From January to February 2019, they traveled to meet each other's parents.

In January 2019, however, Mu began expressing his dissatisfaction with Chen's past sexual experience and repeatedly asked her for details, leading to frequent quarrels and abuse.

From then on, Chen began harming herself. She cut one of her wrists on June 13, 2019, and took drugs on Aug 30 that year. After she consumed the drugs, Mu took her to get her stomach pumped at a hospital, where she was determined to be in critical condition, it said.

Around noon on Oct 9, 2019, the two quarreled again. Later that afternoon, Chen went out alone checked into a temporary room, where she took drugs she had bought online. Between 4:19 pm and 10:30 pm that day, Mu tried to contact and locate her. At 10:55 pm, he found her in the room and sent her to the hospital, the statement said.

On April 11, 2020, Chen died of respiratory and circulatory failure due to drug poisoning. About two months later, Mu was detained by police, it added.

"The two could be identified as family members, because they lived together, with mental and financial interdependence," the court said. "Mu's constant and long-term abuse of Chen prompted Chen's suicide attempt, or there was a link between the abuse and the victim's death."

"Therefore, Mu's behavior has constituted the crime of maltreatment, and he should be penalized for the crime," the court added.

Family members of the victim and the defendant, along with a number of national lawmakers and journalists, were in attendance during the court's ruling on Thursday.