On the evening of July 16, 2011, Zhu Guoyu was attacked by several unknown men on the street near his home while driving back. After a forensic examination, Zhu Guoyu had multiple knife wounds and a fracture of the right ulna, with injuries classified as minor. Despite the attack, Zhu Guoyu did not back down; he continued to defend his rights on Weibo. He applied for certification on Sina Weibo and persisted in exposing clues of corruption in the Maoming officialdom online, aiming to attract the attention of news media and higher-level party and government leaders to uncover the umbrella of local organized crime.
According to reports from the Maoming political and legal department, the case of Zhu Guoyu, a section-level civil servant at the Maoming Foreign Affairs and Overseas Chinese Affairs Bureau who wrote a will to defend his rights, was sentenced on January 17. Li Jiangjie, Huang Yi, Lu Taidang, and five other attackers were found guilty of intentional injury and sentenced to prison terms ranging from two years and eight months to two years. In addition, the six attackers were also ordered to jointly compensate Zhu Guoyu over 45,000 yuan for medical expenses, mental distress compensation, and other costs.
After investigation by the court, it was revealed that in May 2011, defendant Li Jiangjie wanted to contract an engineering project from the Gaozhou Jinrui Real Estate Company. Learning that Zhu Guoyu's complaints on the internet had caused the company to be unable to start work, Li Jiangjie gathered defendants Lu Taidang and Chen Weiwave to plot revenge against Zhu Guoyu, with Li Jiangjie paying for the operation, and Lu Taidang preparing the tools and finding Huang Naiyong, Huang Yi, and Huang Yalong to help punish Zhu Guoyu. Subsequently, Li Jiangjie and the six others repeatedly drove to Maoming to track Zhu Guoyu, studying his routine and looking for an opportunity to act.
On the afternoon of May 1, 2010, Zhu Guoyu's mother was injured in a dispute with developers and passed away a month later. The three developers involved in the conflict with Zhu's mother were all former public officials of the Gaozhou government. Afterwards, Zhu Guoyu continued petitioning and published a will on his blog on January 11, 2011, defending his mother’s honor.
Following a forensic examination, Zhu Guoyu had multiple knife wounds and a fracture of the right ulna, with injuries classified as minor. After Zhu Guoyu was attacked, Maoming Party Secretary Deng Haiguang and Mayor Liang Yimin made comments, instructing the police department to form a special task force to investigate immediately, making every effort to solve the case as soon as possible and severely punish the assailants. They also entrusted Maoming Municipal Committee Standing Committee member and Vice Mayor Lin Ridie to visit and console Zhu Guoyu. Five days later, the six attackers were arrested.
In July 2011, Zhu Guoyu was receiving treatment in the hospital after being attacked. On July 16 of the same year, Li Jiangjie gathered the other five accomplices to drive from Gaozhou to Zhu Guoyu's home nearby in Maoming to wait for an opportunity to act. Around 22:00 that night, Zhu Guoyu drove back to the location where the six criminals rushed out and slashed him on the street before fleeing the scene. Afterwards, Li Jiangjie paid each of Huang Naiyong, Huang Yi, and Huang Yalong 1000 yuan as remuneration.
Civil Servant Writes Will to Vindicate Mother