וידאו שדלף מסין אחרי 36 שנה: גנרל סיני עומד לדין אחרי שסירב לשלוח את חייליו לירות אש חיה נגד אזרחים שהפגינו למען דמוקרטיה

And footage of a Chinese general's secret court trial from over 30 years ago is going viral, racking up millions of views. The clip was recently leaked out of China, and it's an extremely rare situation for such footage to go public. The clip revealed the divide within China's military before they were deployed to open fire on student protesters in the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. The bloody crackdown is one of the most censored topics inside China. And to this day, many Chinese people remain unaware of the full scale of the situation. The general who was tried is called Xu Qinxian. He famously refused an order from the regime. The directive would have sent tens of thousands of his troops to Tiananmen Square to suppress student protesters calling for democracy using machine guns and live ammunition. At the time, Xu led one of the most elite forces stationed near Beijing, For him, it was a decision that could cost him his life. At the trial, he didn't appear afraid, just laying out his concerns before the judges. The protesters were running high on emotions and conflicts would definitely erupt between them and the troops. Once that happened, bloody conflicts would be unavoidable because the troops were armed. Xu expressed concerns over shooting ordinary citizens. The bad guys were mixed together with the good guys. The military troops were mixed together with ordinary citizens. How could I carry out the mission? Who should I open fire on? He noted a decision this series required more discussion amongst the top officials. Xu also questioned why the order was relayed orally without documentation. At the time, I told my superiors that they can appoint me or dismiss me. I said, if I carried this out well, I could be a hero. And if I performed poorly, I might become a sinner in history. Rejections shocking the other generals at the meeting. Here's one of their testimonies read by a judge. After Xu finished his speech, the room was still for quite a while and the two superiors were stunned. Shortly after, the regime replaced Xu with another commander. The 38th Army marched into Beijing, opening fire at students and ordinary citizens. He became known as one of the units that killed the most people on June 4th. Hundreds or thousands of people are estimated to be killed at the Tiananmen Square massacre. The actual death toll remains unclear. Meanwhile, Xu spent five years behind bars for his decision and spent the rest of his life under house arrest. He passed away in 2021 at the age of 85. But before he died, Xu said he didn't regret his decision. He'd rather have his head cut off than go down as a criminal in history.