BEIJING — A Chinese karaoke bar waitress who became a folk hero after fatally stabbing a Communist Party official who demanded sex was freed Tuesday, state media said.

The case has garnered widespread sympathy for Deng Yujiao, 21, who was found guilty of causing injury with intent -- in this case using excessive force in self-defence -- but ruled that she was exempt from punishment, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The Badong County People's Court said she had limited criminal responsibility because she was manic-depressive, and had also turned herself into police after stabbing 43-year-old Deng Guida, who later died, it said.

Calls to the court and her lawyer rang unanswered.

Her popularity reflects widespread anger in China over abuse of power by communist cadres, officials and the security forces. A similar public outpouring of sympathy followed the case of a man who confessed to killing six Shanghai police officers last year in revenge for torture he allegedly suffered while being interrogated about a possibly stolen bike.

Popular posts in online forums called Deng "the best girl on the planet," composed lines of verse in classical Chinese that described her as "beautiful and fierce" and dedicated the lyrics of a popular love song to her. Coverage of her case in the entirely state-controlled media has been unusually sympathetic.

Chinese media reported that Deng Guida found the waitress in the laundry room of a hotel spa a few floors below the bar where she worked and demanded sex.

When she refused, he allegedly forced her down on a couch and blocked her from leaving. She attacked him with a fruit knife she had in her bag, the reports said.

Police said she also attacked his colleague, Huang Dezhi, at the hotel in Badong in the central province of Hubei.

Deng Guida, who ran a local government office for business promotion, is not related to the waitress.

Xinhua News Agency reported last month that Huang and another government official who was also at the spa on the night of the stabbing were fired amid investigations, while police shut down the spa and were questioning its owners. Huang has also been detained, the report said.