Niu Tengyu’s Mother: The Niu Tengyu Wrongful Conviction Case — A Judicial Tragedy Distorted by Power-and-Money Deals and the Substitution of One Person for Another

In 2019， the “恶俗维基” overseas website leaked personal information about high-ranking officials, triggering the “1902136” special case， which was originally intended by those officials to hold the real responsible parties accountable, but 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 and maintenance 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 terms ranging from one year to several years。 The case is rife with suspicions of procedural violations, evidentiary gaps, and power-and-money deals, and public opinion has dubbed it a modern-day “Yang Naiwu and Little Cabbage case”。

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

Among the more than 900 members of 恶俗维基， it was widely acknowledged that the site administrator was Gu Yangyang（usernames konpaku、ESUAdmin, etc.）。 He purchased the domain name， 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 the wanted list， and was removed from it on February 6, 2020。 Shortly after his arrest， he was turned into a “tainted witness,” providing such “evidence” as Google Drive screenshots suspected of having been edited in Photoshop， while his name was redacted in the judgment as “K” or “//////”。

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

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

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

恶俗维基 is an overseas website that can only be accessed from within China by circumventing the Great Firewall， making it inaccessible to ordinary people。 Yet the judgment determined that it “endangered Chinese society.” Simply finding three people at random to claim that they “developed depression because of Niu Tengyu”， without any medical proof whatsoever， was deemed to constitute the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble， which is clearly far-fetched。

Most of the defendants had undergraduate or higher-level degrees， while Niu Tengyu dropped out of school at the age of 13, yet he was accused of “directing” these older and more highly educated people。 The website’s members did not know one another and were not motivated by profit， so the site fundamentally did not meet the characteristics of a “criminal group with pernicious influence”。

III、The fewest contributions, yet the heaviest sentence: grossly disproportionate sentencing

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。 According to a judicial interpretation of 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 circumstance, 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 excessively harsh。 Even more absurdly， sentences were imposed in reverse according to “contribution value”: the fewer the contributions, the heavier the punishment。

IV、The website’s operational timestamps: conclusive evidence pointing to the real site administrator

After Niu Tengyu was arrested on August 22, 2019， the website continued to operate normally and was 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 proving who held actual control。

V、The two versions of Document No. 1104 and the mind map: direct evidence of substitution and misdirection

The mind map produced by the Maoming special-case task force in its early stages listed Gu Yangyang as the principal offender, but he was later replaced by Niu Tengyu。 Document No. 1104 submitted to the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department differed in content from the document submitted to the Ministry of Public Security: in the former, the principal offender was Gu Yangyang, while in the latter this was changed to Niu Tengyu。 After personnel from Beijing state security determined that there was no threat to national security, they withdrew. Guangdong initially intended to release the detainees, but following external intervention, they were ultimately sentenced for the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, resulting in the entire case exceeding the statutory detention period。

VI、Only 18 of the 900 were arrested; nonmembers were also arrested to make up the numbers

Of the more than 900 members, only about 18 were arrested; some of them were not even members of the site, yet they were arrested to make up the numbers。 Everyone acknowledged that Gu Yangyang was the site administrator, yet his identity was concealed。 Was this the result of a power-and-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 cruelest treatment: being hung up and beaten until disabled, having his genitals burned, being photographed naked, and other forms of torture。

Conclusion

I have traveled to Guangdong many times to seek redress and have endured enormous pressure without giving up。 I call for the immediate retrieval of the two versions of Document No. 1104、all surveillance footage, and a thorough investigation into possible deals between the Yang Ye family and the Guangdong authorities, so that the children may be cleared of wrongdoing。

The truth will eventually come to light. Justice may be delayed, but it will not be absent forever。 I hope more people who believe in justice will pay attention to this case, promote a retrial, restore the innocent to freedom, and ensure that the truly responsible parties face legal punishment。