Niu Tengyu’s Mother: The Niu Tengyu Wrongful Conviction Case — A Judicial Tragedy Distorted by Power-for-Money Deals and False Substitution

In 2019， the “1902136” special case was launched after the overseas website “Malice Wiki” leaked the personal information of senior officials， and although the authorities originally intended to hold the actual responsible parties accountable， it evolved in Guangdong into a wrongful conviction case that shocked China and the world。 Niu Tengyu， just 19 years old and an ordinary technical operations worker for the website， was framed as the principal offender， sentenced to 14 years in prison， and fined 130,000 yuan。 The other 23 young people were also sentenced to between one and several years in prison。 The case is rife with suspicions of procedural violations、 evidentiary flaws and power-for-money deals， and has been described by public opinion as a modern version of the “Yang Naiwu and the Little Cabbage Case”。

I、The site operator became a “tainted witness”， the real principal offender was released， while Niu Tengyu received a heavy sentence

Among the more than 900 members of Malice Wiki， it is widely acknowledged that the site operator was Gu Yangyang（usernames konpaku、ESUAdmin and others）。 The domain was purchased by him， the server fees were paid through Alipay by his father Gu Dekang， and members’ testimony consistently pointed to Gu Yangyang as the person actually controlling the website。

On June 14， 2019， Gu Yangyang was placed on an online wanted list， and was removed from it on February 6， 2020。 Shortly after being arrested， he became a “tainted witness”， providing such “evidence” as Google Drive screenshots suspected of having been altered with Photoshop; in the judgment， his name was concealed as “K” or “//////”。

Niu Tengyu was arrested on August 22， 2019。 Gu Yangyang was released on October 17， and beatings targeting Niu Tengyu began just eight days later， on October 25。 Surveillance footage objectively exists showing Maoming police beating Niu Tengyu in the detention center， and Niu Tengyu was also held in a “small black room” in Foshan. His family repeatedly requested access to the complete surveillance footage but was refused each time。

The core questions are： Why could a gang leader become a tainted witness？ Why was the real suspect released merely for “reporting on others”， and why did Gu Yangyang immediately subject Niu Tengyu to torture after his release？ Was this the result of a power-for-money deal？

II、How could an overseas website “endanger Chinese society”？ What was the basis for the charge？

Malice Wiki is an overseas website and can only be accessed from within China by circumventing the firewall， meaning ordinary members of the public could not access it at all。 Yet the judgment determined that it “endangered Chinese society”。 Merely finding three people at random to claim that they “developed depression because of Niu Tengyu”， without any medical evidence whatsoever， and then treating this as constituting the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble is clearly far-fetched。

Most of the defendants had undergraduate or higher-level degrees， while Niu Tengyu dropped out of school at 13， yet he was accused of “commanding” people who were older and more highly educated than he was。 The website’s members did not know one another and were not motivated by profit， so they plainly did not meet the characteristics of a “criminal gang of an evil nature”。

III、The fewest contributions but the heaviest sentence， severe sentencing imbalance

The judgment shows that Niu Tengyu posted only eight comments and uploaded 20 images， with 285 contributions attributed to him（out of 748 contributions across the entire site）， making him the person with the fewest contributions on the entire website， yet he was sentenced to 14 years。 Under a judicial interpretation by the Supreme People’s Court， illegally obtaining more than 5,000 items of citizens’ personal information is required for the offense to constitute a serious case， while the information involved in Niu Tengyu’s case fell far short of that threshold。 Compared with similar cases in 2013 that resulted in sentences of just over one year， the sentence in this case was clearly grossly excessive。 Even more absurdly， sentencing was apparently based inversely on “contribution points”： the fewer the contributions， the heavier the punishment。

IV、Website operating timestamps：conclusive evidence points to the real site operator

After Niu Tengyu was arrested on August 22， 2019， the website continued to operate normally and did not shut down until the day Gu Yangyang was arrested in October。 The server fees continued to be paid through Gu’s father’s Alipay account， clearly demonstrating who actually controlled the website。

V、The two-faced No. 1104 documents and the mind map：direct evidence of false substitution

The initial mind map produced by the Maoming special task force listed Gu Yangyang as the principal offender， but he was later replaced by Niu Tengyu. The contents of Document No. 1104 submitted to the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department differed from those of the document submitted to the Ministry of Public Security， with Gu Yangyang identified as the principal offender in the former and Niu Tengyu substituted in the latter. After Beijing state-security personnel determined that there was no threat to national security， they withdrew. Guangdong originally intended to release the detainees， but following outside intervention， they were ultimately sentenced for picking quarrels and provoking trouble， resulting in the entire case exceeding the legal detention period。

VI、Only 18 of 900 people arrested， with nonmembers also detained to make up the numbers

Only about 18 of the more than 900 members were arrested， and some of those detained were not members of the site at all but were arrested to make up the numbers。 Everyone acknowledged that Gu Yangyang was the site operator， yet his identity was concealed。 Was this the result of a power-for-money deal to “protect one person while harming a group”？

Niu Tengyu was the only person in the case who consistently refused to plead guilty， yet he suffered the most brutal treatment：being beaten until disabled、having his genitals burned、and being photographed naked, among other forms of torture。

Conclusion

I have traveled to Guangdong many times to seek redress， and despite enduring enormous pressure I have not fallen。 I call for the immediate retrieval of the two-faced Document No. 1104 and all surveillance footage， a thorough investigation into possible deals between the Yang Ye family and the Guangdong authorities， and the clearing of the children’s names。

The truth will eventually come to light， and although justice may be delayed， it will not be absent forever。 I hope more people committed to justice will pay attention to this case， help advance a retrial， enable the innocent to regain their freedom， and ensure that the truly responsible parties face legal punishment。