2nd trial for couple who killed two kids begins

The highly anticipated second trial for a man and his girlfriend who were responsible for the deaths of his two children began on Thursday at Chongqing High People's Court.

Dozens of residents and reporters gathered in front of the court gate, hoping to get a glimpse of the trial proceedings.

Zhang Bo, who killed his two children, a boy and a girl, by throwing them out of an apartment window in Chongqing, and his girlfriend Ye Chengchen, who prompted him to do it, both received the death penalty by the Fifth Intermediate People's Court of Chongqing after their first trial in 2021.

That court found that on Nov 2, 2020, Zhang and Ye conspired to deliberately kill the children by staging an accidental fall from the 15th floor of the apartment building.

It ruled that the act, in which both children "fell" simultaneously, amounted to intentional homicide.

The court also concluded that Ye had repeatedly told Zhang that she and her parents could not accept the fact that Zhang already had children, and she urged Zhang to kill them, making her equally culpable.

The two defendants appealed the ruling after the first trial. In China, second trials are granted automatically when appeals are lodged within the designated time.

The case has drawn a lot of public attention and sparked outrage online, with many infuriated netizens calling for the couple to receive the death penalty without reprieve.

Chen Meilin, the mother of the slain children, went to a local temple to honor them on Wednesday, which was Qingming — Tomb Sweeping Day — a day in which people pay tribute to the dead.

"As a mother, I will fight to the end to get justice. It is the last thing I can do for my children," Chen said wearing a black mask during an interview with local media.

She uploaded a video on Sina Weibo on Feb 13 saying that Zhang has written three letters to her from prison expressing his remorse and asking for forgiveness.

The grandparents of the two murdered children told ThePaper.cn, a media outlet based in Shanghai, they felt relieved after Zhang and Ye were sentenced to death in the first trial. But they said the family has suffered a lot while waiting for more than a year for the second trial to begin.

Still, they said they have been looking forward to it and hope that the court will uphold the death sentences.