May 15 (Xinhua) — According to the official WeChat public account of the Intermediate People's Court of Laibin City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on May 15, 2024, the Intermediate People's Court of Laibin City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, pronounced in accordance with the law the second-instance public judgment in the case of appellant (defendant at first instance) Feng Bo, who was charged with joining a mafia-type organization, fraud, and aiding in the fabrication of evidence. The second-instance judgment partially overturned the result of the first-instance judgment. The first-instance judgment found that the defendant Feng Bo was guilty of the crime of joining a mafia-type organization, the crime of fraud, and the crime of aiding in the fabrication of evidence; multiple crimes were punished cumulatively, and it was decided to execute a fixed-term imprisonment of ten years and a fine of RMB 350,000. The second instance overturned the original judgment and sentenced the appellant Feng Bo to four years and six months of fixed-term imprisonment and a fine of RMB 100,000 for the crime of fraud; and to one year of fixed-term imprisonment for the crime of aiding in the fabrication of evidence. Multiple crimes were punished cumulatively, and it was decided to execute a fixed-term imprisonment of five years and a fine of RMB 100,000.The Feng Bo case is a case connected to the mafia-type organization case headed by Liu Qiang (already judged in a separate case). The second-instance court held that Feng Bo helped Liu Qiang and others, with the purpose of illegal possession, to obtain other people's property through litigation by fabricating facts and concealing the truth; his conduct constituted the crime of fraud, and the amount of fraud was especially huge; Feng Bo helped others fabricate evidence, and the circumstances were serious; his conduct constituted the crime of aiding in the fabrication of evidence. Feng Bo committed several crimes alone and should be punished cumulatively in accordance with the law. In the joint crime of fraud, Feng Bo played a secondary role and was an accomplice, and the law applies mitigated punishment to him. The original sentence of seven years and nine months of fixed-term imprisonment for Feng Bo for the crime of fraud was inappropriate, and the second instance corrected it in accordance with the law. At the same time, the second-instance court held that the existing evidence was insufficient to prove that Feng Bo joined the mafia-type organization headed by Liu Qiang, and that the crime of joining a mafia-type organization was not established.

During the second-instance trial of the Feng Bo case, which attracted widespread public attention, the Intermediate People's Court of Laibin City once replaced the judges of the collegial panel. The second-instance court initiated in accordance with the law the procedure for investigating the legality of evidence, organized the defense and prosecution to conduct a court investigation, court debate, and the appellant's final statement, fully listened to the opinions of both the defense and the prosecution, and safeguarded in accordance with the law the various procedural rights of the appellant and his defenders. The public hearing lasted more than 20 days. After the trial, the collegial panel carefully sorted out the opinions of the defense and the prosecution, examined all the evidence in the case one by one around the disputed issues, and made the above judgment in accordance with the law based on the facts ascertained.

During the hearing, representatives from all sectors of society, including Feng Bo's relatives, lawyer representatives, people's congress deputies, and CPPCC members, attended the proceedings as observers.