More than two decades after his 3-year-old son was abducted, a Chinese father has won a symbolic civil case against the trafficker sentenced to death, reigniting debate over victims’ rights.

Lei Wuze, whose two-decade search for his son drew national attention and was later featured in a state television documentary, sought a public apology from the trafficker, along with two yuan (about 30 cents) each for transport expenses, lost wages, and emotional distress.

On Tuesday, Lei announced on social media that the court had awarded him four yuan for travel and lost wages, but denied emotional damages, citing no legal basis. It also ruled that the trafficker had already apologized in court and in writing. Lei has now decided to appeal the verdict.

In 2001, Lei’s 3-year-old son Lei Yuechuan, was abducted from Yueyang, a city in central China’s Hunan province, while on an outing with a neighbor.

Lei promptly took to the streets, putting up missing-child posters across China and offering a 250,000-yuan reward for information about his son. He also turned to social media to raise public awareness, livestreaming birthday parties for Yuechuan during his search.

In June 2023, police located his son in southern Guangdong province, with DNA tests confirming his identity. The following year, a court in southwestern Sichuan province sentenced the trafficker, Wang Haowen, to death for abducting 14 children, including Lei’s son, and ordered the confiscation of all his assets. Two accomplices were also handed prison terms of three and three-and-a-half years.

Yet for Lei, the criminal verdict was only part of the reckoning. Last December, he filed a civil claim against Wang — a symbolic gesture, he said, meant to assert the dignity of victims.

Following the verdict, Lei posted a video online, saying it left him “very upset,” as he had spent the past 23 years fighting for justice not only for himself and his family, but for the public good, for an outcome he found unsatisfying.

Lei, who has about 140,000 followers on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, often livestreams to promote the search for missing children and to sell food. He has also staged dramatic scenes to draw attention. In 2023, during the trial of another abduction case, he bought a cake worth 1,888 yuan, “about two-thirds the size of an office desk,” and placed it outside the courthouse.

His post on the civil suit quickly drew 1.2 million views on the microblogging platform Weibo. Supporters argued that the legal system often overlooks victims’ emotional suffering, while critics accused him of wasting judicial resources and seeking attention.

But Lei stands by his actions. “I believe this case means far more than six yuan. It concerns the dignity of victims and whether more people will pay attention to the real struggles of families searching for abducted children,” he said in his video.

Editor: Marianne Gunnarsson.

(Header image: A screenshot shows Lei Wuze holding a poster of his missing son in 2023. From Douyin)