Ren Yanhong （任艳红）

案件摘要

司法管轄

國籍

中國人

案件標題: Retrial Appeal of Ren Yanhong's Hazardous Substances case

作案時年齡: 41

作案時年齡組: 成年人 (18至59歲)

性别: 女性

犯罪時的宗教信仰: 未知

弱勢 / 邊緣群體身份

社會經濟地位

司法轄區 - 地理定位

緯度: 35.8617

經度: 104.1954

司法轄區 - 地理定位 (已連結案件摘要): 中國

瑞慈合作機構

瑞慈 (英國)
瑞慈合作機構 (中國)

該國最新死刑狀態

保留死刑

案件現狀: 已結案: 無罪釋放

判處死刑年份: 2010s: 2013

涉嫌侵犯的權利

公正審判與正當程序權利: 免自證其罪的權利
公正審判與正當程序權利: 公正調查與信息披露
酷刑: 酷刑/殘忍、不人道或有辱人格的待遇或處罰（CIDT

死刑所涉罪名的性質

謀殺: 多名受害者

專家證據

法醫 / 醫學證據: 化學 / 毒理 / 毒品分析
法醫 / 醫學證據: 屍檢 / 死後檢驗
法醫 / 醫學證據: 微量證據（毛髮、纖維、油漆、玻璃等）
法醫 / 醫學證據: 指紋 / 掌紋 / 足跡
法醫 / 醫學證據: 測謊 / 腦圖像分析 / 麻醉偵查

案件背景 (最多300字): On the evening of July 5, 2011, in a village in Shandong Province, Li and his family of three fell ill after dinner and then died despite emergency treatment. The diagnosis indicated rat poison poisoning. Previously, the Li family had experienced multiple poisoning incidents, and Li’s son had also died from rat poison poisoning earlier.
On July 20, Ren Yanhong was subjected to a polygraph test by local police. Failing in the polygraph test, she was subsequently interrogated the same evening. Her illiteracy might potentially influence her interrogation and confession. On June 4, 2013, the Linyi Intermediate People's Court delivered a first-instance verdict, finding Ren guilty of poisoning Li on five occasions to escape his harassment. The poisonings resulted in four deaths. Ren was sentenced to death sentence with a two-year suspended execution. The defence lawyer in the first trial had already raised concerns about flaws in the evidence. Regarding the fifth poisoning incident, the court determined that Ren had purchased rat poison from a stall in the town. However, the stall owner denied this, claiming they did not know Ren and had never sold rat poison to her, casting doubt on the source of the poison. During the trial, Ren recanted her confession, stating that she had been coerced through torture. She subsequently appealed. On October 27, 2015, the Shandong High Court overturned the original verdict, citing "unclear facts and insufficient evidence," and remanded the case for retrial.
In July 2017, at the first retrial, Ren was again sentenced to suspended death penalty and appealed once more. On December 26, 2018, the Shandong High Court concluded that "the original trial court had failed to examine critical contested evidence presented during the trial, violating legal procedures in a way that could affect a fair trial." The court overturned the first retrial verdict and ordered a retrial once again. On July 30, 2019, the Linyi People's Procuratorate issued a decision not to prosecute, citing "unclear facts and insufficient evidence." On August 1, 2019, after being detained for 2,932 days, Ren was released without charges. She filed a claim for state compensation, and in October 2020, the court awarded her 1.78 million yuan in compensation.

辯方意見 (最多200字)

Based on the investigation, the defence lawyer identified numerous doubts surrounding the case, including:

Alibi Evidence:
- Among the five poisoning incidents attributed to Ren Yanhong, she either had an alibi or no opportunity to commit the crime in two instances. Specifically, Ren had no opportunity to commit the first poisoning, and she had a confirmed alibi for the fourth poisoning.
Incomplete Forensic Evidence:
- No fingerprints, footprints, hair, or other trace evidence were collected at the crime scene.
- The autopsy report for the family of four lacked detailed photographs of the forensic examination process and attachments verifying forensic accreditation.
- Additionally, the most critical evidence for determining the type and quantity of the toxin—the mass spectrometry data—was not provided by the police.
Insufficient Objective Evidence:
- The origin and packaging of the rat poison, allegedly used as the weapon, were not traced.
- The prosecution presented statements from 41 witnesses, which only confirmed that the family fell ill but failed to establish a direct link between the poisoning and Ren Yanhong. The defence argued that Ren Yanhong, accused of poisoning four people and sentenced twice to a suspended death penalty, was a victim of a typical " verdict rendered with room for doubt due to unresolved uncertainties "

判决摘要 (最多200字): On June 3, 2019, the Linyi People’s Procuratorate withdrew the indictment, citing "changes in evidence." On June 28, 2019, the Linyi Intermediate People’s Court approved the withdrawal of the case and dismissed the plaintiff’s attached civil suit. On July 30, 2019, the Linyi People’s Procuratorate issued a decision not to prosecute, stating that the "facts of the case were unclear and the evidence insufficient." On August 1, 2019, after being detained for eight years, Ren Yanhong was released without charges and regained her freedom. Subsequently, Ren filed a claim for state compensation of over 6.75 million yuan and requested a public apology from the relevant authorities to restore her reputation and mitigate the impact of the case. In October 2020, she received a state compensation decision awarding her 1.78 million yuan, including 1.016 million yuan for personal freedom compensation and 764,000 yuan for emotional distress. After negotiations, Ren waived her claims for additional expenses, such as medical treatment and legal costs. On the day the compensation agreement was signed, a representative from the Linyi Intermediate People’s Court apologized to Ren in person. In return, Ren dropped her demands for a public apology, impact mitigation, and reputation restoration.