Lao Rongzhi, 46, appeared within the Nanchang Intermediate Folks’s Court docket in Jiangxi province on Monday, in line with a press release posted by the court docket on its official Weibo social media account.
Lao “expressed her apologies” to the victims’ households and claimed she was a “sufferer,” who was pressured to assist her boyfriend, convicted assassin Fa Ziying, out of worry, state-run newspaper Beijing Youth Each day reported.
Fa was arrested in July 1999. He was convicted of seven murders and executed in December that 12 months, state media reported.
“The 2 conspired and had a transparent division of labor,” the Nanchang court docket assertion alleges. “They collectively dedicated crimes of theft, kidnapping and intentional murder in Nanchang, Wenzhou, Changzhou and Hefei.”
Lao advised the court docket that Fa’s strategies have been “very merciless” and that in her relationship with him, she suffered bodily and psychological abuse, and two miscarriages, Beijing Youth Each day reported.
Lao and Fa have been in a relationship between 1996 and 1999, in line with the Nanchang Intermediate Folks’s Court docket assertion.
Following Fa’s arrest, Lao used a number of aliases to abscond throughout the nation. She traveled to completely different cities, and made a dwelling by doing part-time jobs in bars and different leisure venues, in line with a press release launched by the Xiamen Municipal Public Safety Bureau final 12 months.
She additionally had surgical procedure to vary her look to keep away from arrest, in line with state broadcaster CCTV.
Lao was arrested in November final 12 months in a shopping center within the southeastern metropolis of Xiamen, and was charged with homicide, theft, and kidnapping, in line with Chinese language authorities.
On Monday, Lao advised the court docket that she had been “dwelling in darkness” for the previous twenty years. She added that she will be able to “lastly sleep peacefully” and not lives in worry of being caught by the police, in line with Beijing Youth Each day.
Zhu Dahong, the spouse of considered one of Lao’s victims, stated that it was “tough to simply accept such an apology,” Beijing Youth Each day reported.
“The ache we suffered up to now twenty years can’t be brushed away by an apology,” Zhu stated.❐
