A man has been executed after murdering his vlogger ex via a live stream. Thousands of viewers watched Amuchu, a 30-year-old Tibetan vlogger known on social media as Lamu, being doused in gasoline and set ablaze by her former husband Tang Lu in Sept. 2020. They had an extensive history of domestic violence in their marriage. He divorced him just three months before the murder. The murder took place at her father’s home, Daily Mail reports. Lamu sustained 90% of burns on her body from the burning and died from her injuries in hospital two weeks later. A court in Aba Prefecture said in a statement during his sentencing that the murder was “extremely cruel and the social impact was extremely bad,” and called for him to have “severe punishment” as a result.
While still married, Lamu reportedly notified police of the abuse she endured in the marriage, but they didn’t take action, telling the vlogger it was a family matter. She had two children and they lived in the mountains of Aba, a remote rural region of southwest Sichuan province with a large number of ethnic Tibetan residents. She showed off videos about rural life in the mountain province.
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Lamu’s death triggered an online outcry over the under-reported issue of domestic violence in rural communities, primarily in ethnic communities. China only criminalized domestic violence in 2016. The death came as many continue to claim it’s not taken seriously. According to a 2013 survey by the All-China Women’s Federation, 1 in 4 married Chinese women have experienced domestic abuse. A UN study from the same year involving 1,000 men in a county in central China found that half of the men interviewed reported using physical or sexual violence against a female partner.
There have also been concerns that a recent change to China’s civil code. For couples wishing to divorce, there is an enacted mandatory 30-day “cooling-off” period for couples, which may make it harder for victims to leave abusive marriages.
On Lamu’s Douyin account, the Chinese version of Tik Tok, she had amassed more than 782,000 followers and 6.3million likes before her assault. Outside of showcasing rural life, she was popular for lip-syncing to songs she liked.
