A Chinese man, who was convicted of setting his ex-wife ablaze and killing her during a livestream, was executed by court order in southwestern Sichuan province.
According to the Supreme People’s court order, Tang Lu was executed on Saturday after being given the death penalty for the intentional homicide in October 2021 that had drawn national outrage.
The Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture Intermediate People’s Court said in a short statement that the crime was extremely cruel, and Lu deserved the most severe punishment, reports Mirror newspaper.
Lu and his wife Lamu were separated in June 2020 after eleven years together. Both worked as influencers on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
According to a previous statement from the court, Lu was not willing to get a divorce and repeatedly tried to restore the marriage, but Lamu rejected the idea.
In September 2020, a dejected Lu went to his ex-wife’s house, doused her with petrol and set her on fire while she was livestreaming on Douyin. The 30-year-old woman, who was known online as Lhamo, died of injuries a few weeks later.
Lamu had around 75,000 followers on Douyin where she used to share her life, showing off the Sichuan countryside. She was ethnically Tibetan and often wore traditional Tibetan clothing in the videos.
Lamu’s case drew national headlines a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s speech at a UN conference where he talked about the protection of women’s rights and interests saying that it “must become a national commitment”.
Her case then stirred heated discussions over domestic violence.
Hashtags including #LhamoAct, calling for laws allowing victims of abuse an automatic divorce, spread across the internet.
The social media star’s sister had told the Paper, an official media outlet based in Shanghai, that her sister faced domestic abuse for years and that is why she decided to divorce him.
(With inputs from agencies)
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