Court upholds sentence of man guilty in girlfriend's suicide

Beijing No 1 Intermediate People's Court has upheld the original ruling of a prison term and compensation handed down to Mu Linhan, who was convicted of abusing his late girlfriend a month ago.

The decision was posted on the court's official account on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like platform, on Tuesday following the appeal.

Mu was sentenced to three years and two months in prison by the Beijing Haidian District People's Court for mentally abusing his late girlfriend in June. He was also ordered to pay 730,000 Yuan ($102,000) in compensation to her family.

Both parties later lodged appeals with the intermediate court.

On Tuesday, the intermediate court said that it had decided to reject the appeals and uphold the original verdict, as it was made based on evidence, with the correct application of the law and appropriate sentencing and that litigation had been in line with the law and the amount of compensation required was reasonable.

The case received widespread public attention after the victim, a Peking University student surnamed Chen, overdosed in 2019 after being repeatedly chastised over her sexual past by her then boyfriend Mu, who was also a student at the university.

Chen lay in a coma for several months before dying at the age of 24. Her death was ruled a suicide.

Beijing police uncovered the abuse after reviewing evidence, including messages between the pair on Chen's WeChat account. Mu was later detained.

News of Chen's death went viral and sparked heated discussions among netizens about mental abuse and whether Mu's behavior could be counted as such.

According to Chen's mother, Mu was angry because Chen had already had sex before they met, and he used the fact that she was not a virgin to emotionally torture her, instead of simply breaking up.

At the time, some netizens accused Mu of trying to psychologically manipulate Chen.

In its original ruling, the Haidian court identified Mu's actions as maltreatment in line with the Criminal Law, saying that his long-term abuse that led to Chen's deterioration and had contributed to her death.

Under the law, maltreatment consists of the physical or mental abuse of family members, whether through physical assault or insults. In cases where such abuse results in serious injury or death, prison terms ranging from two to seven years are mandated.

The Haidian court identified Mu and Chen as family members because they had lived together for a long period and intended to start a family, and so were both psychologically and financially interdependent.

It also disclosed details proving that Mu's constant abuse had prompted Chen's suicide attempt, adding that there was a clear link between the abuse and the victim's death.