Son of Li Gang faces trial over hit-and-run killing at university
The son at the centre of last year's infamous 'my father is Li Gang' traffic accident at Hebei University will face trial in a Hebei court tomorrow.
Li Qiming , the 22-year-old son of Li Gang, a deputy district police chief in Baoding, Hebei, was charged with traffic crime by Wangdu county prosecutors for allegedly running over two women students while speeding through the campus in Baoding while drunk late at night on October 16. One of the women, Chen Xiaofeng, died.
The authorities put pressure on her family to accept compensation in November.
Li Qiming will go on trial at Baoding's Wangdu County People's Court at 9am tomorrow.
After allegedly running over Chen, he was stopped by police and students and challenged the police, telling them that Li Gang was his father. The younger Li was arrested by Wangdu county prosecutors on October 24 after being detained for a week. 'My father is Li Gang' quickly became an online catchphrase, sparking widespread outrage about the abuse of power by officials and their families.
Article 133 of the Criminal Law says the minimum sentence for a hit-and-run killing is seven years' jail.
Seven members of Chen's family, including her father Chen Guangqian and elder brother Chen Lin, will attend the trial.
Under tremendous pressure from the local authorities, the father signed an agreement with people sent by Li Gang on November 5, accepting 460,000 yuan (HK$544,318) in compensation on condition that the family would not talk to the media or reveal the agreement to the outside world for a while.
The family also sacked one of their two lawyers, Zhang Kai from the Beijing Yijia Law Firm, who asked for another autopsy to determine the speed of the car. Police did not respond to that request.
Chen Lin said the compensation was not immediately given to Chen's family but was held by the Weibo county government in Xinji, Hebei, their hometown, until December 27, when media interest in the case had waned.
'The driver should be charged with endangering public safety [which can attract the death penalty] instead of with a regular traffic crime,' Chen Lin said. 'Accepting the compensation doesn't mean that we accept the traffic offence charge.'
