According to an April 24 news release from the Rights Defense Network, a court in Maoming, Guangdong province, ruled that Niu Tengyu, the main culprit in the “Vicious Wiki Case,” had his 14-year prison sentence upheld in the second trial after his lawyer and parents were banned from attending court.
Niu Tengyu’s lawyer and mother both said they would appeal the second trial verdict. When Niu Tengyu’s lawyer was forcibly removed from the court by state security, he denounced the authorities for using the administrative power of the state to uphold the arbitrary sentence.
It is reported that Niu Tengyu is the server maintenance technician and webmaster of “Vicious Wiki”. The website has sparked discontent with the authorities for reprinting information on Xi Jinping and his family, as well as the household registries and photos of senior Communist Party officials and their families, published by several “vulgar circle” websites. Niu Tengyu was previously sentenced in the first instance to 14 years in prison and a fine of 130,000 yuan for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” “infringing on personal information,” and “illegal business operation. The trial was held on the charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” “infringing personal information,” and “illegal business.
According to Rights Defense Network, Niu’s sentence was related to his publication of personal information about senior Communist Party officials and the authorities’ crackdown on Hong Kong and Xinjiang. During his detention, Niu Tengyu was tortured to extract a confession and was beaten to death by hanging.
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