The controversial murder trial of Yang Jia , who shocked the nation last month by stabbing six police officers to death in Shanghai, is set to start today in the city's No2 Intermediate Court.
Yang, 27, a Beijing native, stormed a police administration building in Shanghai's Zhabei district on July 1, randomly stabbing nine police officers and a security guard as he ran upstairs. Six people died with the rest seriously wounded.
He was arrested and the Shanghai No2 Procuratorate pressed charges against him within two weeks. Shanghai media reported that the trial was originally scheduled for July 29, but for undisclosed reasons, the hearing was postponed to an unspecified date.
Caijing magazine revealed yesterday that the trial was rescheduled for today. An online court list of scheduled hearings was not accessible yesterday, but even on July 29, when the page was available, Yang's case was not on the list.
From the first day, the case has been unusual not only because of the high-profile nature of the murders and the fact that the victims were policemen, but also because Yang seemed to attract more sympathy than condemnation. In addition, there has been a public outcry over the apparent lack of procedural justice repeatedly demonstrated by the Shanghai police and the way the judicial apparatus has handled the case.
In particular, a group of 16 Beijing lawyers issued an open letter late last month calling for Yang's lawyer, Xie Youming , to be replaced because of a conflict of interest arising out of his role as legal counsel for the Zhabei district government.
