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Beijing police said on May 8 that they had failed to solve a poisoning case in which Tsinghua University student Zhu Lingling, formerly known as Zhu Ling, was paralyzed 19 years ago, due to the lack of evidence needed to convict the suspect. This caused netizens to call on the police to make public the investigation results.

According to a post on the capital police's Sina Weibo account on Wednesday, the police said they had visited and interrogated over 130 people related to the case, as well as carried out inspections in over 100 research institutes across the city that possessed thallium.

However, we failed to find direct evidence to convict the suspect, as the case was reported to the police half a year after Zhu was first poisoned, and by then the evidence had all been destroyed, said the statement. Click to read the full report

Case timeline:

1994	●Zhu suffered severe brain damage after being poisoned by thallium.
	●Case has remained unsolved.
2013	●Zhu’s case once again surfaced in online discussion after a postgraduate student was poisoned and died at Shanghai's Fudan University. ●A petition on the White House website calling for Sun's deportation already has hundreds of thousands of signatures. ●Beijing police admitted that they failed to find direct evidence to convict the suspect.

Viewpoints

	Global Times: Why hasn’t doubt over poisoning subsided
How should we view the police statement? Given the huge public attention, it's not likely any officials would dare issue a statement with false content. Neither individuals nor institutions would be able to take such dangerous risks. It’s conceivable people deliberately stayed silent, however this would be totally different from cheating under the public's watchful eyes. Officials' authority and credibility are not sufficient to quell public questions, which is a big problem faced by official departments. It is already difficult for the Chinese public to place a high degree of trust in officials.
	Beijing Times:‘No punishment in doubtful cases’
The response by the Beijing Police echoes two principles of law –‘no punishment in doubtful cases' and 'innocence until proven guilty'. Prior to the police issuing a formal statement, many netizens expressed disbelief that authorities lacked evidence to solve the case. However, according to the law, a court can only close a case due to a lack of evidence.
	People's Daily: Disclosure is the answer
Increased demand from the public to reopen unsolved cases generally yields little good in terms of judicial fairness. However, the government should disclose their investigation to the victim's family and the public in a timely manner, because any lack of transparency fuels the rumor mill surrounding Zhu’s case online.
	Changjiang Daily: Zhu Ling, 19 years later
Although people still have doubts about the case, nothing stops them from passing judgment. The pervasive presumption of guilt before innocence in our society often leads to injustice and false judgments. Therefore, when the public is delivered a verdict of ‘no punishment in doubtful cases’, they in turn doubt the judicial system, and Zhu Ling's case is a prime example of this lack of faith.

Related  Reports

Daily special: Heated debate revives cold case murder
Chinese turn to White House website for help with petitions
Cold case petition grabs US attention
Student’s poisoning death stirs debate

News Vocab

无罪推定 wúzuìtuīdìng

presumption of innocence

无罪推定是司法审判过程中对公民个人权利的一种保障。
source：163.com 

The presumption of innocence is judicial process of a guarantee of citizens' personal rights.

信息公开 xìnxī gōngkāi

disclosure

2008年 12日，朱明新向北京市公安局递交信息公开申请，要求公开朱令案的进展情况。
source：caijing.com.cn

Zhu Mingxin, Zhu Ling’s father, submitted an application of disclosure to the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau on the progress of his daughter's case.