China has taken a step forward regarding the legality of crimes committed in self-defense.

Sheng Chunping – who was on trial for stabbing a woman who attempted to scam him into a pyramid scheme – was found innocent on Friday by a local procuratorate in Zhejiang province.

In July, Sheng had traveled to meet his lover in Zhejiang’s Tonglu county, only to be scammed by her into joining a fraud group.

The woman took Sheng to an apartment where she and other scammers tortured Sheng in order to force him to join their criminal group. Sheng was forbidden from leaving. The scammers threatened and physically abused Sheng, but Sheng refused to bow to their demands.

In order to negotiate his own release, Sheng brandished a knife, as well as offered up all his material belongings – to no avail. As the scammers approached him to take the knife, Sheng stabbed one surnamed Cheng, whose chest, neck and wrist were injured. Then Sheng escaped.

Cheng recovered in the hospital but died one month later after failing to following the hospital’s rehabilitation guidance.

Now the local court has ruled that because Sheng was defending himself, he is innocent.

China has long struggled to define a proper legal boundary for self-defense. As public debates and legal enforcement have broadened, an increasing number of self-defense cases have emerged, pushing forward China’s practices in the protection of related rights.