w********t
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Why a Chinese cold case has landed on the White House's doorstep
（More than 100,000 Chinese have signed a petition on a White House website
urging the US to deport the chief suspect in a 19-year-old case of poisoning
.）
Chinese citizens dubious about their country’s legal system are seeking
justice in an unusual place for the victim of an alleged attempted murder in
China. They are taking the case to the White House.
More than 100,000 people have signed a petition on a White House website
urging the US to deport the chief suspect in a 19-year-old unsolved case of
poisoning that continues to excite strong emotions here. Adding piquancy to
the case: The suspect is very well-connected politically in China.
In 1994, a chemistry student at one of China’s top universities, Tsinghua,
called Zhu Ling was poisoned with Thallium, a chemical often used in rat
poison. She did not die, but was left nearly blind, paralyzed, and brain-
damaged, needing constant care from her increasingly aged parents.
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Her fate has not been forgotten, says Wu Hongfei, a former journalist who
has followed Ms. Zhu’s case closely, partly because she was pretty and
smart and partly because Tsinghua is so prestigious. But the main reason,
says Ms. Wu, is that the only real suspect in the case “had close ties to
high ranking officials.”
Sun Wei, Zhu’s roommate at Tsinghua, was investigated by the police at the
time of the incident, but was never charged, though reports at the time said
she had access to Thallium. The police said there was not enough evidence
to pursue the case; many ordinary citizens believe that evidence was covered
up because Ms. Sun’s father's cousin had been deputy mayor of Beijing and
her grandfather was reputedly a friend of then President Jiang Zemin.
“Because of her family background … she avoided punishment,” complained
one netizen, posting as “@Jinse Guniang” on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like
social media platform.
Sun changed her name and is believed to now be living in the United States.
The case has erupted again into the public consciousness in the wake of last
month’s arrest of a student for fatally poisoning his roommate at another
prestigious university, Fudan, in Shanghai. The suspect in that case has
confessed to putting poison in his dorm-mate’s water dispenser, saying he
did it for a joke.
Zhu's case continues to rankle. On Monday, after just three days on the
White House website, the petition concerning Sun had drawn more than the 100
,000 signatures required for the US administration to offer a response. On
Sina Weibo, terms relating to the case accounted for three of the top five
search words.
Journalist Wu has little hope that the White House petition will do any good
. Dissident artist Ai Weiwei “attracted a lot of international attention
but he is still not allowed to leave China,” she points out. But as public
pressure mounts at home, the authorities appear to be listening. Over the
weekend, social media posts including such words as “Thallium” or “Zhu
Ling” were being scrubbed from the Internet by Chinese censors, apparently
afraid of criticism of the Chinese judicial system.
By Monday, the censors had lifted their search blocks. And even the state
owned media have joined in the chorus of demands.
The online version of Peoples’ Daily, organ of the ruling Communist Party
and Xinhua, the official news agency, shared a headline: “China, Ruled by
Law, Should Seek Justice.” At long last, the victim of that unsolved
poisoning seems to have friends in high places, too.
【在 w********t 的大作中提到】
: http://news.yahoo.com/why-chinese-cold-case-landed-white-houses
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