A Chinese court issued a ruling in one of the most horrific incidents witnessed by the communist state last year, where a man killed his ex-wife by setting her on fire during a live broadcast on the internet, leading to her death. Online, Lamu lived a poetic life in the videos she posted about herb harvesting in the autonomous region of Sichuan in southwest China. Lamu was very popular on Douyin, a Chinese version of TikTok, where she garnered thousands of followers and millions of likes for not using cosmetics in her clips.
However, offline, the 30-year-old video blogger struggled to escape her abusive husband despite repeated pleas to the police and courts for help, according to the Washington Post. Eventually, Lamu divorced him. But in September 2020, while she was live streaming, he suddenly entered the frame, poured gasoline on her, and set her on fire. After two weeks of suffering burns covering 90% of her body, Lamu died.
Last Thursday, a Chinese court found her ex-husband, Tang Lu, guilty of murder and sentenced him to death for committing a "brutal" act that had an extremely negative social impact, according to China Central Television (CCTV). The Washington Post noted that for many in China, this was a painful outcome to a horrific story, alongside a series of similar distressing cases last year, highlighting how laws, courts, and police nationwide often fail to protect victims of domestic violence. The case sparked discussions on social media about violence against women in China.
Under Chinese divorce laws, abuse was not considered grounds for divorce until 2001. However, in 2015, China issued its first law explicitly criminalizing domestic violence, both physical and emotional.
