At the Judges' Bench.
Wang Lei briefly summed up the current arguments in his mind.
And waited for Fang Tang to respond.
His gaze settled on Fang Tang. Wang Lei could clearly sense his nervousness, so he asked again:
"Does the defendant Fang Tang have any statement to make?"
Fang Tang remained silent.
Wang Lei frowned slightly and turned to Dong Bing. "Does the defendant Dong Bing have anything to say?"
Dong Bing followed his example and remained silent, giving no answer to Wang Lei's question.
Wang Lei continued, "Are the defendants remaining silent because they tacitly admit it, or because they don't know how to answer these questions?"
"Please answer."
Tacitly admit it...?
Faced with those words from Wang Lei, Fang Tang did not want to be saddled with a tacit admission, so he immediately spoke:
"Presiding Judge, we don't know how to answer. We have no way of answering that question."
"No way of answering? Why can't you answer?"
"Are you refusing to answer these questions because you're worried your answers will lead to a heavier sentence?"
"You only need to state what you felt at the time. Otherwise, in light of your silence, the Court has the right to weigh the matter based on the prosecution's statements."
Wang Lei's step-by-step questioning was becoming more than Fang Tang could withstand. It had now reached the point where he had no choice but to answer.
He took a deep breath.
Fang Tang replied, "Presiding Judge, when we made the public announcement at the time, we didn't think that much about it."
"It wasn't a matter of trying to evade responsibility."
"We were just afraid public opinion might have some negative impact, so that was the response we gave the public for the time being."
"Afterward, we certainly would have