A man who repeatedly violated a habeas corpus order by beating, intimidating and threatening his ex-wife is sentenced to eight months' imprisonment. Photo: WeChat account of Xiangzhou district court in South China's Guangdong Province

A man who repeatedly violated a habeas corpus order by beating, intimidating and threatening his ex-wife was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment, according to the official WeChat account of Xiangzhou district court in Zhuhai city, South China's Guangdong Province on Wednesday, which is the first case in China where a court has sentenced a person to jail for refusing to execute a ruling on a habeas corpus order.

Xiangzhou court made a writ of habeas corpus order in 2023 which prohibits the man from committing acts of domestic violence including beating and threatening, and also harassing, stalking, or contacting his ex-wife and daughter, according to the release.

However, the man again beat his ex-wife with a baseball bat and was sentenced to 10 days of administrative detention and fined. After writing a letter of repentance, he still sent death threat text messages to his ex-wife and was sentenced to 15 days of judicial detention. 

The Xiangzhou court referred the case to the public security authorities on suspicion of a crime after the man repeatedly violated habeas corpus, and he was arrested in January 2024, according to the release. The court sentenced the man to eight months in prison for refusing to execute a ruling.

According to the release, the couple divorced in 2019 but were still living together with their daughter. However, because his ex-wife found a new job, the man often looked through her cell phone, and restricted her from going out to work, and even afterward threatened and beat his ex-wife at the company where she worked, the woman then determined to apply for a writ of habeas corpus from the Xiangzhou court.

Global Times