He Zhongyang, whose violent abuse of his wife gained national attention in China after leaving her hospitalized with severe organ damage last year, was sentenced to 11 years in prison Friday.

In a Dec. 27 ruling, a court in southwestern China’s Sichuan province found He guilty of criminal abuse and intentional injury. In addition to prison, the judge ordered He to pay the victim, identified in court documents as Xie, approximately 380,000 yuan ($52,000) in compensation for her injuries and lost wages.

The case drew widespread attention in China after Xie, then 29, shared her story on microblogging platform Weibo in June 2023. Related hashtags have since been viewed over 200 million times on the platform.

According to Xie, the couple met online in 2020 and married a year later. Over the following two years, Xie said He abused her on 16 separate occasions.

In April 2023, after He threw a pot of hot oil at Xie in a restaurant, she went to a local court to request a divorce and a protection order. But her application was not processed because she lacked He’s household registration documents, domestic media reported.

On her way back from the court, He found Xie, forcibly dragged her into a hotel, and beat her for hours. She lost consciousness and awoke hours later, barely able to move. The next morning, though weak, she managed to make enough noise to attract the attention of a hotel worker, who called the police.

The attack left Xie with severe organ damage. Part of her small intestine had to be removed, leaving her permanently dependent on a colostomy bag and largely unable to consume solid food.

“The doctor said if I had been taken in 20 minutes later, I would have died,” Xie wrote on Weibo in June 2023.

Her husband was detained shortly afterward, and prosecutors charged him with intentional injury and abuse in January 2024.

Of the 16 incidents of domestic violence Xie described, the court recognized four as evidence of criminal abuse. It also found He guilty of the crime of intentional injury for the nearly fatal hotel assault.

In its verdict, the court said the case resulted in “serious consequences and extreme circumstances,” justifying a harsher sentence.

He Zhongyang said he would appeal the ruling. Xie’s attorney also stated they would file a formal protest arguing that the hotel assault should have been charged as attempted intentional homicide rather than intentional injury.

A handful of domestic violence victims rallied at the courthouse Friday to show their support for Xie.

“We’re here to cheer Xie up, but also for ourselves,” one of them was quoted as saying in domestic media. “There should be zero tolerance for domestic violence.”

This May, Xie’s petition for divorce was granted by a local court, and the couple’s two-year-old daughter was placed in Xie’s custody.

“When facing domestic violence, we must stand up courageously,” Xie told reporters after the divorce proceedings were over. “Our country and government will protect the rights of women and children. We all need to keep fighting.”

“Domestic violence, in general, is a repeated and long-term harm, so it is crucial for victims to call the police or turn to courts if they are suffering from harm,” China’s Supreme People’s Court wrote in a report this November.

In the leadup to He’s trial, Xie has talked openly about her experiences as an abuse survivor. In a lengthy November interview with domestic media outlet The Paper, she said she instinctively locks her door at the sound of footsteps and always sleeps facing the entrance.

“I know he’s locked up, and it’s impossible for him to hurt me, but this fear, this anxiety, is engraved in my bones,” she said.

(Header image: Xie (with flowers) enters the courthouse accompanied by her friends in Chengdu, Sichuan province, Dec. 27, 2024. VCG)