A Chinese court in southwestern Sichuan province executed a man Saturday who was convicted of homicide for setting his former wife on fire, in a case that had drawn national outrage and horror in an extreme case of domestic violence.
The Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture Intermediate People's Court said in a short statement issued online Saturday morning that it had carried out the execution of Tang Lu.
Tang set his ex-wife on fire in September 2020 while she was livestreaming on Douyin, the short video platform. The 30-year-old woman, known online as Lamu, died of her injuries a few weeks later.
Lamu had offered a glimpse into her life in short videos and livestreams on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok run by the same parent company. In her videos, she showed off the Sichuan countryside and blogged about her life. She was ethnically Tibetan and often wore traditional Tibetan clothing in the videos.
Lamu’s sister had told the Paper, an official media outlet based in Shanghai, that her sister suffered domestic abuse at Tang’s hands for years and decided to divorce him as a result.
The case drew widespread condemnation and outrage across the country over the plight that women can face in abusive marriages. Police took the man into custody a few days after news of the attack spread.
Tang had appealed the decision but lost the appeal in January this year.
