Caijing's special spokesperson’s statement on the incident that two reporters from the First Financial Daily were sued and their property was sealed

In recent days, the lawsuit filed by a company under Taiwan-funded Foxconn Technology Group against a reporter from The First Financial Daily has drawn widespread attention and comments from all sectors of society.

Dissatisfied with The First Financial Daily's reports on issues such as "excessive overtime" for employees, Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., under the Foxconn Technology Group, sued reporters Weng Bao and Wang You of the newspaper, demanding a total compensation of RMB 30 million on grounds of defamation. The company also requested the court to seal and freeze the personal assets of the two reporters.

As a news media committed to public opinion supervision and promoting the rule of law, we are closely monitoring the development of the relevant situation and hereby declare our preliminary opinions on this incident.

We believe that the lawsuit against The First Financial Daily's reporters Weng Bao and Wang You, and the sealing and freezing of the properties of Weng Bao's couple and Wang You, reflect at least three problems in the current judicial status of this case:

Firstly, the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court (hereinafter referred to as Shenzhen Intermediate Court) swiftly sealed the parties' assets as requested. According to Article 113 of the Civil Procedure Law: "The people's court shall send a copy of the complaint to the defendant within five days from the date of filing." To date, the Shenzhen Intermediate Court has not delivered a copy of the complaint to the two reporters whose assets were sealed, which is clearly illegal. We wonder where such procedural invention comes from?

Secondly, while the Shenzhen Intermediate Court intended to seal Weng Bao's property, it actually sealed the joint property of Weng Bao and his wife, thus illegally sealing the property of Weng Bao's wife. Such judicial behavior is suspected of official infringement.

Thirdly, the reasons stated in the two rulings of the Shenzhen Intermediate Court for sealing the assets...