Six get death for Xinjiang riots
- Source: Global Times
- [03:20 October 13 2009]
- Comments
"We have received 420,000 yuan in compensation from the government. But it's not a matter of money. My family has suffered too much for my sister's death," Dai said.
Urumqi has been under heavy security since the unrest. The situation got tenser amid a wave of syringe attacks beginning in late August.
Four people were given hefty sentences ranging from eight to 15 years in prison September 17 for stabbing a pedestrian with a syringe in Urumqi, which triggered a public scare and caused violent protests.
The sense of security has been restored now. Nearly 14,000 community volunteers have joined police forces since September to maintain social order as they formed more than 700 unarmed security teams patrolling the city around the clock, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
Dai runs a store in southern Urumqi, where most residents are Uygurs. She said that she does not worry about the safety now, as there are a lot of armed police patrolling the street, but it is very hard to keep the business going.
"Ninety percent of my customers are Uygurs. But the volume every day is only dozens of yuan, and I close the store at 9:30 pm at the latest. I really don't know if it can still sustain," Dai said with anxiety.
The number of domestic tourists to Xinjiang slumped 26.6 percent, year-on-year, to 1.3 million during the National Day holiday, Xinhua reported.
The World Uygur Congress condemned the sentences, saying that the defendants were not given access to lawyers of their own choosing, AFP reported.
But according to the official press release, the public prosecutors presented testimonies of witnesses, autopsy reports and other evidences at the court, and played monitoring video of the scenes of crimes.
The defendants provided explanation against their charges and their lawyers defended at the court. More than 400 people, including legislators, family members of the defendants and victims, and journalists, observed the hearings.
The court proceedings were done in the Uygur language along with simultaneous interpretation.
Hao Zhou, Kang Juan and An Baijie contributed to this story
