Chinese policewoman convicted of blackmail over affairs with nine married men, including officials, being denied her lawyer, family says
- Xu Yan was sentenced to 13 years in prison for extorting her ex-boyfriends, many of whom were public officials
- Her family says an appeal court will not allow them to appoint a family lawyer to defend the woman
Relatives of a Chinese auxiliary police officer convicted of using sexual relationships to blackmail nine married men, many of whom are public officials, have claimed that an appeal court won’t allow a family lawyer for the defence.
Xu Yan, 27, has turned into something of an online celebrity after a court in Jiangsu province found her guilty of extorting 3.7 million yuan (US$569,000) from her ex-boyfriends. She was sentenced to 13 years in prison and fined 5 million yuan in December 2020.
The case has caught fire online because many of the men were public officials, fuelling speculation about the source of the money the officials used to pay her off with.
One use on Weibo, China’s Twitter, asked: “The ‘victims’ seem to be rich. 3.7 million. I don’t understand how come officials in such a small county have so much money?”
Xu was sexually involved with nine different men over five years between March 2014 and April 2019, several of whom were her superiors in the police department.
After breaking up with the men, she would blackmail them by pretending to be pregnant, demand emotional compensation, or threaten to expose the affairs, said the Guanyun county court’s judgment.
Xu has appealed the verdict. Her uncle said on Weibo this week that a superior court in Lianyungang city, where a second hearing will be held, would not allow the family to appoint a lawyer for Xu.