Criminal suspect Bai Suocheng is escorted by Chinese police officers at the Kunming Changshui International Airport in Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, Jan 30, 2024. Photo:Xinhua

On Tuesday, the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court in Guangdong Province announced the first-instance judgment for the Bai family criminal group: five members were sentenced to death, with other members receiving prison terms from 20 years to three years and additional penalties including fines, confiscation of property, and deportation, according to a release from the court's website.

Bai Suocheng, Bai Yingcang, Yang Liqiang, Hu Xiaojiang, and Chen Guangyi were sentenced to death; defendants Li Fushou and Li Zhide were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve; defendants Guo Jianzheng, Pan Xian, and three others were sentenced to life imprisonment; defendants Li Longhua, Luo Wending, and seven others were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from 20 years to three years, with corresponding additional penalties including fines, confiscation of property, and deportation.

According to the court's findings, the Bai family criminal group was led by ring leaders, including Bai Suocheng, Bai Yingneng and Bai Yingcang. Its important members consisted of their relatives, close associates, subordinates such as Li Fushou, and armed leaders like Li Longhua. The group leveraged its family's influence in Myanmar's Kokang region. 

Backed by its family's armed forces, the group established 41 compounds — including through self-construction or joint development. These places served to attract and recruit "funders" like Yang Liqiang, Pan Xian, and Yan Jiefeng, to whom the group provided armed protection. 

In collusion with these "funders," the group engaged in a range of criminal activities, including telecommunications network fraud, operating casinos, intentional homicide, kidnapping, and organizing illegal border crossings. These activities involved over 29 billion yuan ($4.1 billion), leading to the deaths of six Chinese citizens, one suicide, and multiple injuries. In a separate crime, Bai Yingcang also conspired to traffic and manufacture approximately 11 tons of methamphetamine, according to the release. 

The Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court held that the defendants Bai Suocheng, Bai Yingcang, and others had organized, led, and participated in a criminal group, and found that their actions constituted 12 offenses, including fraud, intentional homicide, and intentional injury. The aforementioned judgments were then rendered based on the facts, nature, and circumstances of each defendant's crimes, as well as the degree of harm to society, in accordance with the law, according to the release. 

Global Times