China overturns death sentence for woman who killed, dismembered her abusive husband

BEIJING – China has overturned the death sentence and ordered a retrial for a woman who killed and dismembered her abusive husband, a ruling welcomed by advocates of the country's often-silent victims of domestic violence.

Attorney Guo Jianmei said she verbally confirmed the Supreme People's Court's ruling on Tuesday on the case of Li Yan, who had been sentenced to death in 2011 for slaying her husband.

Li's case garnered attention both for the horrific accounts of abuse she suffered as well as the gruesome details of how she ended the abuse by killing the man, dismembering his body and boiling parts of it.

Li became a rallying point for anti-domestic abuse activists in China, where police and courts commonly turn a blind eye to victims of domestic violence.