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A woman in Mianyang City, southwestern China's Sichuan province, said she has decided to file for a divorce after her husband went to Angola for work 9 years ago, and neither returned nor contacted her since then.She added that throughout the years, she had kept hoping that the husband would one day return home, but instead, she overheard that he had already moved on. The man is reportedly cohabitating with a local woman and already has a child with her in Angola.▲Online trial held through WeChat VideoThe judge presiding over the case told reporters on November 28th that since the husband is in Angola, such divorce cases would take more than six months if they used traditional procedures to handle them.He communicated with both parties and decided to use a remote connection through the WeChat Video call function to carry out the hearing.Mr. He and Ms. Li are both from Mianyang. Mr. He learned construction under the apprenticeship of Li's father and he quickly won the heart of Li.The two got married in 1994 and they had a daughter the following year. Li describes their marriage at the time as harmonious.However, she says her husband went to Angola in 2011 for work and even secured contractual work on small projects in the country. When he returned home, she sensed that her husband had been unfaithful while away.She told reporters that she thought of a divorce at the time but neither said anything nor proceeded with the thought in order to protect their daughter who was still at school.
Mr. He went to Angola again in 2014 and never came back since then. Not only that, he also severed communications with her, talking occasionally with their daughter.As Li clung to a glimmer of hope that her husband would one day come back to her, she received heartbreaking news from He's colleague who returned to China from Angola in 2021. The colleague told her that He is cohabitating with a local woman in Angola and already had a child with her.Broken-hearted Li decided to file for a divorce, however, the circumstances of their case prevented the smooth execution of the divorce. How do you proceed with a case in which a man is abroad and refuses to talk to his wife?That was the biggest hurdle to tackle for a judge who presided over the case."The circumstances of the case were difficult for a traditional way of handling divorces. After several twists and turns, we managed to contact He through his daughter."We communicated with both parties and provided them with proper guidance before they agreed to proceed with it. Both parties consented to a remote hearing using mobile phones and the WeChat video call feature." Said the presiding judge.The case-handling team at the Fucheng Court conducted a simulation of the trial before the date of the hearing. After confirming that everything will be in order, they set the date for the hearing—November 28th, 2023.During the hearing on Tuesday, the judge explained to both parties the laws, their rights, and the consequences they might have to face. He also arranged for both parties to be provided with sufficient emotional and psychological counseling before they announced their final decision.In the end, both parties agreed that their marriage was already broken beyond repair and opted for mediation.They reached a divorce settlement through mediation and the case was closed on the same day.
*The opinions expressed in the article are solely those of the author.* Follow Us
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