Jailing of crippled orphan proves China has ‘rule of law’: Xinhua

By NI YULAN
Legal Correspondent

BEIJING (China Daily Show) – The conviction yesterday of a 13-year-old girl for “state subversion” proves that the country is making judicial progress, state media announced today.

Yuan Yue was sentenced to two years’ jail and re-education, after speaking up for fellow abused children, protesting conditions in her orphanage and asking for more gruel.

Yue lost her parents at age four, in an accident involving a Ferrari that left her paralyzed below the waist and technically wheelchair-bound.

But her orphanage was unable to afford a wheelchair, meaning Yue was forced to use a trolley with one wheel missing. Since then, educators say, she has been “nothing but trouble.”

“Asking for more slop after having had a whole half-bowlful was the final straw,” ranted chief orphanage administrator Mr Bangbao. “Before that, Yuan had repeatedly cried in public, told doctors she was being mistreated and even criticized the leaders.”

Dissident orphan Yue, pictured here in happier times

Welcoming the decision to detain and prosecute Yuan, an editorial in state mouthpiece Xinhua – entitled ‘Public Proud to See Justice Served At Last’ – boasted that the trial conclusively proved that China was “a socialist country governed by law.”

“It doesn’t matter if you are a street vendor or a human-rights lawyer, no one is above having their legal rights,” crowed the anonymous writer. “The behavior of the ungrateful orphan was highly suspected, so police paid attention to the case, seeking truth from facts. This proved that China follows its own path and is governed by rule of law.”

Top Party intellectuals were quick to agree.

“This trial is indeed a show trial,” confirmed Cai Zhekaofu, a senior Professor of Spin at the CPC Party School and author of the popular What The Foreign Media Doesn’t Tell You children’s book series. “It shows the foreigner that the central government is fulfilling the role of smooth development of the country and resolute investigation and shows China will not be distracted and the public opinion fully supports everything in this matter.”

Public opinion could not be confirmed at the time of going to press, however, as the PLA had wiped the Internet again.

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