Photo: VCG

Three defendants were brought into the courts on Wednesday by the widower of a 35-year-old female pediatrician from Southwest China's Sichuan Province for the crime of infringing on personal information. The doctor committed suicide after she fell victim to internet violence provoked by a swimming pool conflict with a 13-year-old boy in 2018. 

The hearings will be held at Sichuan Province Mianzhu City People's Court on Wednesday and Thursday. Three defendants, including the boy's mother, surnamed Chang, were charged by the local procuratorate. 

The dispute stemmed from a swimming pool collision between the pediatrician named An Yingyan and the boy on August 20, 2018, although it is unclear as to how the conflict escalated. 

According to An's side, the boy harassed her by touching her bottom and refusing to apologize. He even spat her in the face. Whereas according to the boy's side, the boy only briefly touched her when they collided, but An became angry. 

The surveillance footage did show that the woman's husband, Qiao Wei (pseudonym), intervened in the conflict and pushed the boy's head underwater and hit him on the head. 

Although Qiao apologized to the boy for his behavior, the conflict between the two families did not settle under mediation by the local police. Qiao later claimed that An was beaten by the boy's mother and two other women in the female dressing room that day. 

The next day, the boy's parents went to An's hospital and Qiao's workplace and demanded that they be fired. 

The boy's parents then released the surveillance footage to the media alongside An and Qiao's personal information, including their names and workplace information, which was leaked on the internet, and developed the trivial dispute into an online witch-hunt.

The hashtag "Doctor An from Deyang" started trending and lingered for days on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo. 

Feeling great pressure from the online manhunt and media exposure, An asked for leave from her workplace after the incident. On August 25, five days after the incident occurred, An went out alone and took her own life by taking 500 tablets of chlorpheniramine, a type of allergy relief medicine, in her car. 

An was rushed to the hospital as soon as she was found that evening but was declared dead soon after.

An's death did not bring an end to the internet violence. The hashtag of her suicide became trending and public sentiment drastically turned around and targeted the boy's mother and her family, blaming her for misguiding the public's opinion against An. 

After the incident, An's husband Qiao filed a lawsuit against Chang and the other two for infringing on personal information, which led to the manhunt and internet violence that caused An to take her own life. 

Before the court hearing, the two families failed to reach a settlement under mediation due to the two sides' disputes on issues such as responsibility and compensation. 

The court hearing will conclude on Thursday evening.