China sentences 6 to death in gang crackdown that exposed workings of city snared in crime
By APWednesday, October 21, 2009
China sentences 6 to death in gang crackdown
BEIJING — A court in southwest China sentenced six men to death Wednesday for gang-related crimes including blackmail and murder, the first convictions in a monthslong crackdown that has exposed a major city mired in violent organized crime.
More than 1,544 suspects have been detained in Chongqing, China’s largest municipality, since the gang sweep started in June, with more than a dozen criminal gangs busted. In August, the city’s longtime deputy head of police — who was also head of the judicial bureau — was taken away for internal investigation by the Communist Party, accused of protecting gangs in the city.
Members of the city or district people’s congresses have also been ensnared.
In two separate trials at the city’s intermediate courts, two gang leaders and one gang member were sentenced to death, and three others were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, said a notice on the official Web site for China’s courts.
Suspended death sentences are usually commuted to life in prison in China.
Twenty-five others accused of belonging to “mafia-style” organizations were given sentences ranging from one to 18 years in jail, the notice said.
In one case, gang leader Yang Tianqing was sentenced to death for intentionally harming others, blackmail, illegally possessing arms and other charges, it said. Since 2005, Yang hired newly released criminals and jobless people to terrorize people in four districts of Chongqing city, the statement said. Member Liu Chenghu was also sentenced to death on five charges, including belonging to a “mafia-style” organization.
In another case involving 22 people, Liu Zhongyong was sentenced to death for leading and organizing a gang, murder, intentionally harming others and other charges, it said. Liu was also found to have run an illegal coal mine in the city that caved in twice, killing three people, and was charged with causing a work safety accident.
