On August 7, 2013, more than 60 police cars were parked outside an office building next to Dongtieying Bridge, Fengtai District, Beijing. Out of these cars came approximately 300 policemen who broke into a cultural exchange center inside the building and took away over 400 employees.
On the afternoon of August 10, a briefing was given by the police force of Fengtai District. “Huaxia Guobo”, the cultural exchange center, was suspected of illegally accessing and exploiting citizens’ personal information in order to sell valueless collectibles at extremely high prices and make huge profits therefrom. According to the briefing, nearly RMB100mln were collected by trading those valueless collectibles. 95 suspects were under criminal detention and another 204 under administrative detention. The prime suspect surnamed Han was still at large.
Media frenzy and all kinds of hearsay worried Han’s family. They came to attorney Zhang Zhiyong to retain him as defense lawyer for Han.
After reading all relevant media reports and considering facts and laws, Zhang held that Han’s behavior only constitutes illegal access to citizens’ personal information, but not fraud. Zhang also tried to persuade Han’s family to take Han to the police to win leniency for him. His advice was taken. Zhang himself drove over two thousand kilometers to bring Han back to Beijing and accompanied him to the police.
At a trial court, the public prosecutor accused Han of illegal access to more than a hundred million pieces of citizens’ personal information and suggested harsh penalty against Han. Zhang, on the other hand, tried to elaborate fully his points that Han’s business was duly organized and operated, sources of much of the information were legal and Han surrendered himself voluntarily to the police and suggested lighter punishment. The atmosphere at court was for a moment quite intense. Eventually, the court of first instance adopted Zhang’s opinion. On August 22, 2014, the People’s Court of Fengtai District, Beijing issued its No. 1105 criminal judgment and imposed a lenient punishment on Han.
Beijing Dacheng Law Offices, LLP ("大成") is an independent law firm, and not a member or affiliate of Dentons. 大成 is a partnership law firm organized under the laws of the People’s Republic of China, and is Dentons' Preferred Law Firm in China, with offices in more than 50 locations throughout China. Dentons Group (a Swiss Verein) ("Dentons") is a separate international law firm with members and affiliates in more than 160 locations around the world, including Hong Kong SAR, China. For more information, please see dacheng.com/legal-notices or dentons.com/legal-notices.
