What's wrong with this lawyer?!

The Jingnan County urban management department, Liu Jintang, frowned upon hearing the voice on the phone, "Who is Liu Xuehong? I don't even know you, and what money are you talking about returning?"

More than half a year had passed since Liu Xuehong resisted and was imprisoned, and Liu Jintang didn't recall it immediately.

Of course, Liu Jintang had heard that an expert team from Jingzhou seemed to be involved in some administrative litigation and had apparently won, but he didn't know much more than that.

After all, Liu Jintang was just a staff member, and honestly, who had ever heard of being able to get back medical expenses that had already been paid...

The voice of Old Tang on the phone rose again: "It doesn't matter if you don't recognize me; let me help you remember. In April of this year, your urban management department organized a forced demolition operation, remember?"

"At that time, you entered a person's home to forcibly remove them. However, the person did not cooperate, and you got into a conflict. Then that person injured you and another colleague named Mao Heshun, both of which were determined to be minor injuries." Discover stories at My Virtual Library Empire

"Afterward, because of the crime of obstructing public services, that person was sentenced to one year of imprisonment, and you and your colleague also filed an incidental civil lawsuit, claiming more than forty thousand in compensation from him. You remember now, don't you?"

As Liu Jintang listened to the voice on the phone, his complexion instantly changed; indeed, he remembered—Liu Xuehong, that was the person who had fought with them!

"No, he resisted our enforcement and was sentenced to one year in prison; hasn't he been locked up already?" Liu Jintang quickly said.

On the phone, Old Tang continued, "Yes, he had indeed been imprisoned at the time, but I took over his case. After a retrial, he was declared innocent yesterday."

"Moreover, the provincial high court has also revoked the incidental civil lawsuit, ruling that Liu Xuehong acted in self-defense, and self-defense does not require compensation. So, you need to return the money you took from him!"

"I expect the court will notify you in the next few days. Anyway, my advice is to return the money quickly, or else I will apply to the court for enforcement!"

Even though it was a retrial by the provincial high court, enforcement would be carried out at the court of first instance, which is the Jingnan County Court.

"Wait a minute, why? We weren't notified at all, so how can the court just retrial directly? On what basis can the court make such a decision?"

"Also, if we return the money, what about the medical expenses we incurred for our injuries?"

Liu Jintang shouted in discontent, unable to comprehend how a crime with conclusive evidence of obstructing public services could be overturned.

Grassroots forced demolitions weren't uncommon, and there had been cases of resistance in many places, all of which ended with convictions. How could it be deemed innocent this time?

Moreover, he and his colleague were clearly injured, and the more than twenty thousand they claimed were not arbitrary. The money was for hospital treatment, recovery expenses, lost wages, and the like.

The court didn't even utter a word and just handed down a verdict; what was the justification for that!

On the other end of the phone, Old Tang replied, "You are the victims in the case. When have you ever heard of a court notifying the victims to appear in court when acquitting a defendant?"

In a criminal case, the victims are just that, victims. The public prosecutor is the procuratorate, and the court is the judicial body; to put it bluntly, it has little to do with you, the victim.

All a victim can do is apply for a protest to the procuratorate when they find the court's judgment to be unjust.

Now forget about this case; the provincial procuratorate dispatched someone specifically to participate in the litigation, providing advice that it should be ruled as innocent. Once the higher procuratorate has made its stance, the lower-level procuratorates can't do much else.

"As for whom you should get your money from, that's simple. Whoever told you to do the work, you just ask them for the money."

The logic was straightforward: since the urban management department's leadership had ordered them to work, and the work itself was illegal, they definitely had to turn to the urban management department for injuries suffered.

As for the urban management, they could approach the housing expropriation office—after all, it was an internal matter. Old Tang's goal was merely to get the money back.

"All right, that's it. Remember to act quickly, or else I'll apply for enforcement. Since you're public officials, I won't do any property preservation."

The advantage of being a public official was that as long as one wasn't fired, the salary would continue, so there was no need for property preservation; if truly short on funds, it could be repaid slowly.

After Old Tang hung up, he started calling another person.

Soon, another urban management staff member was also stupefied, never in their dreams thinking that the medical expenses and other compensation they had received would now have to be returned; it was simply outrageous!

Quickly after, Liu Jintang and his colleague met up and went to the court to investigate, discovering that the other party wasn't lying—the high court really had revoked the previous judgments.

"What do we do? It's really ridiculous; how can he be innocent, and they even want us to return the money? Why should we return it?" Mao Heshun said with dissatisfaction.

"Because they have a verdict. Let it go, let's go ask our leader to see what they say," Liu Jintang replied helplessly.

So much time had passed, and after the second trial, the sentence was served; what they thought was a certainty was now being overturned on retrial...

With no other options, they had to turn to their leader.

An hour later, in the office, the leader of the urban management department looked at the two men in front of him with deep frowns, "What are you saying? Liu Xuehong's lawyer called you and asked you to return the money?"