Yang Jia

Yang Jia (; 27 August 1980 – 26 November 2008) was a Chinese citizen executed for murdering six Shanghai police officers with a knife.

Yang received international media attention for the public sympathy accorded to him in China, where, according to exiled writer Ma Jian, Yang has become "a sort of national hero." Beijing lawyer and blogger Liu Xiaoyuan prominently defended Yang.

Background Yang, an unemployed 28-year-old Beijing resident described as a loner, He then sued the police for maltreatment, to no avail.

Stabbings According to Chinese authorities and media, Yang Jia ignited eight petrol bombs at the front gate of the police headquarters in Zhabei, a Shanghai suburb, at about 9:40 am, 1 July 2008.

Victims Supervisor 1st Class Ni Jingrong , 47, 27 years in police service, Han Chinese, former head of the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau Zhabei Subbureau's Logistics office; Recipient of Meritorious Service Medal 3rd class twice. Supervisor 2nd Class Fang Fuxin , 50, 15 years in police service, Han Chinese, part of the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau Zhabei Subbureau Public Order Division On 27 August 2008, Yang was tried behind closed doors in a one-hour trial at the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court. as had previously been expected. The appeals court concluded that Yang was of sound mind.

On 21 November 2008, the Supreme People's Court of China confirmed the death verdict. Yang was executed by lethal injection on 26 November 2008.

Media coverage and public opinion in China Yang initially benefited from unusually sympathetic coverage in the state-controlled Chinese press. The Beijing News pointed out that Yang's appointed lawyer, Xie Youming, might have had a conflict of interest as he is also a legal adviser for the city district that oversees the police station at issue.

After his execution, Internet tributes to Yang continued to be posted in China. Agence France-Presse reported that very few Internet users expressed the opinion that Yang deserved his fate, reproducing the following contribution by a Chinese forum user as typical of many: "When you hold a knife up to the police, it's doomed to end this way. But Chinese history will remember Yang Jia's name forever."

Musical tribute

Pan Gu , an underground Chinese rock band now in exile, released a five-song album named after Yang Jia, The Knife of My Home Country . One song was named after the well-known quote of Yang's: "You [the authorities] refuse to give me an explanation, I shall give you my own explanation".

Film In 2012, Chinese director Ying Liang created When Night Falls, a film directly based on the events of Yang Jia's case and trial, told from he point of view of his mother.

U.S. 2008 Human Rights report The U.S. Department of State's 2008 Human Rights report mentioned Yang Jia: