A public trial, let the judiciary give Zhou Zhenglong a reasonable judgment.
Time can dilute memories.
Although this year in China there have been too many heart-wrenching major events, as time goes by, those vivid image memories will fade from memory. The noise will eventually return to quietness, and intense emotions will eventually be summed up as helplessness and calmness. Thus, days pass one by one without any fundamental change.
Today, while reading the news, I learned that the main character of the Tiger Photo incident, Zhou Zhenglong, is about to go on trial. His assigned lawyer wants to charge him two thousand yuan in fees and says his crimes are serious. Meanwhile, those lawyers who were willing to defend Zhou Zhenglong for free were officially rejected.
The "Zhenglong Photographs the Tiger" incident happened before the Olympics; it seems like it was a long time ago but also feels like it's right in front of us. If it weren't for the media's relentless pursuit, this matter would have ended quietly. Counting up, Zhou Zhenglong has been detained for quite a long time. Being behind bars, Zhou Zhenglong deserves his fate and should not feel wronged. Probably no one will care about his inner feelings, and no one knows what kind of dark secrets have occurred behind bars. Previously, someone predicted that Zhou Zhenglong would be tampered with and die before the court session, turning the case into a headless one.
Fortunately, Zhou Zhenglong is still alive and has the hope of seeing justice restore fairness to him.
Will our judiciary give Zhou Zhenglong a fair judgment?
What is fairness? At its most basic level, fairness means making those who commit crimes pay the price they deserve and ensuring victims receive appropriate compensation.
There is no doubt that Zhou Zhenglong is a perpetrator. Although he could swear on his life that his tiger photos are real, we have sufficient reason to believe he was not fighting alone. The entire "Zhenglong Photographs the Tiger" incident looks more like a conspiracy. The techniques and tactics required for this conspiracy clearly surpass Zhou Zhenglong's intelligence and ability; Zhou Zhenglong is merely a clown on the stage. Giving Zhou Zhenglong fairness means uncovering this conspiracy and exposing all the participants. Perhaps we may not be able to bring those people to justice, but at least we will know how the darkness came about.
However, uncovering the conspiracy is difficult because behind the conspiracy lies power and interests. We don't have systems to constrain power, so what we see more often is the continuous corruption of power. What’s nauseating is that these powers are sustained by our hard-earned money. Today, I saw a new term called "the banditization of power," which I strongly agree with. This banditized power is the source of ugliness but often appears as an innocent victim, issuing orders from the heights of justice and morality. When will we be able to lock this tiger of power back into its cage?
I estimate that the final outcome of the Zhou Zhenglong case will likely be that Zhou Zhenglong admits guilt and accepts legal punishment, taking full responsibility for all the problems. Only when he descends to hell can the tiger behind the conspiracy rest easy.
I hope the result contradicts my estimation.
Who is the victim in the "Zhenglong Photographs the Tiger" incident? It seems that Zhou Zhenglong only defrauded 20,000 yuan and did some deceitful things. However, this incident actually damages the credibility of society and the government, even though such credibility has depreciated over the years.
Of course, depreciation also includes the credibility of experts and the IQ of the pro-tiger faction.
I look forward to an open trial. Under the supervision of the media, restore the original appearance of the tiger photo incident, give Zhou Zhenglong fairness, and give this society a bit of fairness.