Zhu Ling’s Unsolved Crime: Nearly Blind and Paralyzed by Poisoning

In 1994, Zhu Ling was a student at Tsinghua University. That same year she was poisoned with thallium, which left her disabled for decades. Last Friday, her death was confirmed in Beijing, at the age of 50. This is the story of a crime that the authorities of China they were not able to resolve it.

“Zhu Ling fought tenaciously against pain for many years. Throughout the life of Zhu Linghas always counted on the care, support and encouragement of many former students, from all walks of life and the school”, wrote the prestigious Tsinghua University in a message on the social network Weibo.

TO LOOK: Yahya Sinwar, Israel’s most wanted man, speaks for the first time since the start of the war

Zhu’s father, Wu Chengzhiconfirmed the news to Southern Metropolis Daily. His funeral took place on Sunday.

According to the EFE agency, on November 18 Zhu suffered an attack caused by a brain tumour with severe symptoms, including high intracranial pressure, dilated pupils and high fever, which led him to enter a severe coma.

Entrance to Tsinghua University in Beijing on November 27, 2022. (Photo by Noel CELIS/AFP). (NOEL CELIS/)

Zhu ling I was a second year chemistry student at Tsinghua University. He also played the piano and guqinstring instrument, and was a member of the swimming team.

At the end of 1994, at the age of 21, he began to experience stomach pain, hair loss and other symptoms.

“His back started to hurt, then his legs and stomach; then the whole body. In a few days he lost all his hair,” said his mother in a documentary produced a few years ago on Chinese television.

A few weeks later she recovered and in early 1995 she was discharged and returned home, Spanish newspaper El País reported.

The young woman resumed her studies in February 1995. But eight days later the symptoms returned, but this time the pain was greater. “He held onto the headboard of the bed, crying, until he passed out,” his mother said in the documentary.

She was admitted to the Beijing Union Medical College Hospital; However, doctors were unable to find the diagnosis. After his health worsened, Zhu Ling fell into a coma.

The case and the young woman’s medical history were then publicized on the internet in search of clues about what was happening to her. The responses, most written by doctors from around the world, mentioned the thallium as the possible cause of the condition Zhu lingindicated El País.

Finally, the doctor Chen Zhenyangtoxicologist specializing in thalliumdetermined that “the concentration of thallium in his body was 10,000 times larger than normal.” “I’ve never seen anything like it,” said the doctor in an interview.

Zhu Ling She underwent life-saving treatment, but the damage suffered was irreversible.

As a result of poisoning, Zhu ling She was left paralyzed, almost blind and brain damaged. He needed 24-hour care during the almost 30 years he survived, as his mental capacity was that of a six-year-old child.

“His memory stops before the accident, he doesn’t remember anything that happened,” said his mother.

He thallium It is a highly toxic metal that dissolves in water, has no smell or taste. It is used in poisons for rodents and insects, a CNN report detailed.

Zhu Ling was 21 years old when she was poisoned. (Zhu Ling Foundation).

No one was charged for crime. Your classmate and roommate, Sol Weiwho was the main suspect, was investigated by the police in 1997, but was not charged due to lack of evidence, according to the British BBC.

Sun He appeared several times on social media declaring himself innocent and also changed his name, the BBC added.

The case, EFE indicated, became a symbol of the impunity of elites in the ChinaWell, the family of Sol Wei He was part of the communist regime and according to those who follow the case, he was a friend of the then president of the country, Jiang Zemin.

Furthermore, as CNN maintains, Sun’s grandfather was a high-ranking official in the Nationalist government before the communist takeover of China in 1949. He later held important, although largely symbolic, positions in the People’s Republic until his death in 1995.

One of Sun’s father’s cousins ​​was considered a national leader from 1993 to 2003, when he was vice president of China’s highest political advisory body, CNN reports.

Apparently, Sun envied Zhu for his good academic curriculum and “arrogance”, according to the researchers.

Chinese state media reported that Sun had access to thallium in the university laboratory. But she said she was not the only student with access to the toxic substance and denied having any personal problems with it. Zhu.

On Saturday, the death of Zhu was the most important research element in Weibo, with more than 400 million views, CNN reported. Many users spoke out about injustice and how untouchable those who interact with political elites are.

“The main reason why the case of Zhu evokes so much public anger and sympathy is because many people in China “They see a part of themselves in Zhu: they have suffered some kind of injustice, but there is never a fair, independent or transparent investigation by authorities,” Yaqiu Wang, the nonprofit’s China research director, told CNN. profit Freedom House, based in Washington.

“Zhu’s devoted parents, who took great care of her for nearly three decades, also symbolize the family care that people in China knows intimately and can trust, because the system is not something that can be trusted or depended on,” Wang added.

CNN recalled that in 2013, when a case of poisoning in a university residence Shanghai Rekindled national interest, social media users launched a petition to the United States government to take action against the former suspect, who they believed resided in that country.

The request addressed to the White House was signed by more than 150,000 people and specifically asked the US government to investigate Sun and expel her.

The petition alleged that Sun’s family had powerful political connections and noted that the suspect “had the motive and access to the lethal substance,” the BBC reported.

The White House did not comment on the request, but said it Zhu Ling’s poisoning “was a tragedy”. “No young person deserves to suffer like she did, and we can understand the pain of those close to her,” he said in a statement.

Source: Elcomercio