Six more get death penalty
- Source: Global Times
- [02:39 October 16 2009]
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The two were among the Han residents who took to the streets two days after mobs of Uygur rioters killed 195 people and injured nearly 2,000 on July 5, in an apparently vindictive move.
Several Uygurs, led by Ahmatjan Moming, were convicted of murder, robbery, arson, and vandalism. They used bricks, stones and sticks to beat two men to death, and robbed the victims of their cell phones, bracelets and other belongings, the court said.
Other mobs drove a bus to break into a Geely Auto sales store to vandalize and burn more than 40 cars, resulting in economic losses of more than 1.6 million yuan ($235,000).
Of the 14 sentenced Thursday, three were given the death sentence. Another three were given the death penalty with a two-year suspension, a sentence usually commuted to life in prison. The rest were given life imprisonment or shorter jail terms.
Hou Hanmin, the spokeswoman of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional Government, told the Global Times that more trials and public hearings would continue for the remaining detained suspects, without giving specific dates.
Police have detained nearly 700 suspects related with the riot that erupted on July 5, earlier reports said, in which 197 people died, mostly Han Chinese, and more than 1,600 were wounded, according to official figures.
Xiong Kunxin, a professor of ethnic policy at the Minzu University of China, said there was a fair trial for the violent law-breakers.
"Only harsh penalties could comfort the families of the victims and display the authority of the law," Xiong said.
"The law is meant for justice and will not discriminate against ethnicity, no matter whether they are Han or Uygur," he said.
