Six get death for Xinjiang riots
- Source: Global Times
- [03:20 October 13 2009]
- Comments
By Qiu Wei
Six death penalties and a life-imprisonment sentence were handed down Monday in the first verdicts over the unrest in the western Xinjiang region three months ago that left almost 200 dead.
The sentencing appeased some victims' families, who nonetheless maintained their call for more timely punishments for those charged.
The heavily police-guarded Intermediate People's Court in Urumqi sentenced the seven Uygur men convicted of crimes such as murder, arson and robbery in the July 5 riot. Mobs on that day claimed 197 lives and injured more than 1,600.
The seven tried were among the 21 people who have been charged. Trials for the remaining 14 are scheduled in the coming days, Hou Hanmin, a spokeswoman for the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, told the Global Times Monday.
It was unknown whether the Uygurs would appeal the rulings.
Abdukerim Abduwayit, Gheni Yusup, Abdulla Mettohti, Adil Rozi, Nureli Wuxiu'er and Alim Metyusup were sentenced to death. Tayirejan Abulimit was given the lesser punishment of life imprisonment, as he confessed to crimes of murder and robbery and helped the police capture Metyusup.
Abduwayit killed five people with a dagger and pipe wrench during the riot. He also set fire to a downtown building, resulting in 13 people being injured from jumping off the building and causing economic losses of more than 260,000 yuan ($38,000), according to the sentencing report.
In the second case, Yusup led Mettohti, Rozi and Wuxiu'er in beating four people to death and injuring another. Mettohti and others also set a grain-and-oil shop ablaze, killing five people who were hiding inside and causing an economic loss of 1.37 million yuan.
Metyusup and Abulimit together killed three people and seriously injured one person. Metyusup, together with other mobs, also killed another two people and set fire to houses, resulting in an economic loss of more than 50,000 yuan.
Habibulla Abdusalam, director of ethnic literature studies at the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences, said the sentencing would likely appease victims' families and help residents feel like life has returned to normal.
"Lawbreakers, regardless of their ethnic backgrounds, should be held accountable and punished. All ethnicities suffered from the brutal killings," Abdusalam said. "As a Uygur, I believe the love of humanity should be broad and go beyond ethnicities. Rioters do not deserve tolerance by their co-ethnic people."
Police have detained hundreds of people suspected of crimes related to the unrest, earlier reports said.
Dai Xiaoli, 42, a Han woman whose sister was killed on her way home from work during the riot, said the families felt somewhat relieved after the sentencing. But Dai urged authorities to bring more rioters to justice as soon as possible.
"It has been more than three months since the bloody incident. Why there are only so few people sentenced?" Dai asked.
Dai said that she had asked the police department about the investigation of her sister's death but was told only that it was hard to track down her sister's assailant.
