The family of a pedestrian killed in a deadly drag race is appealing the driver's three-year sentence.

Hu Bin, a sophomore at Hangzhou Normal University, in court during his trial at the Xihu district court in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang province, July 20. Inset: Hu Bin sits in his car after striking Tan Zhuo, 25, as he crossed the road on May 7.

Tan Yue, the victim's father, said he was dissatisfied with the verdict and thought it was "too lenient".

Meanwhile, he insisted that the defendant should be charged with "endangering public safety" rather than a "traffic offense", which has a maximum penalty of seven years.

Hu Bin, 20, a sophomore at Hangzhou Normal University, was racing his car on May 7 when he hit 25-year-old pedestrian Tan Zhuo, knocking him five meters into the air before he hit the ground and died.

Tan Yue has submitted his petition to the local court and procuratorate, and he reportedly has decided to petition to higher departments if the district's procuratorate refuses his appeal.

The Hangzhou Xihu District People's Procuratorate said on Tuesday it had received Tan Yue's petition and would consider it. The procuratorates have five working days to reply to Tan.

Meanwhile, Hu's parents also expressed their dissatisfaction with the verdict, which they thought was "too harsh", though they didn't plan to appeal.

Earlier, Hu's family gave more than 1.1 million yuan ($161,000) in compensation for the victim's death.

Who are you?

Tan Yue has also contested the identity of the defendant in the courtroom, who he thought was unlike the one in newspaper photos.

Since the trial began earlier this month, some court photographs have been released on the Internet.

A lot of netizens have come to doubt the identity of the man who stood trial, and they think Hu's appearance is very different from the one in the photograph on the night of the incident.

Responding to public doubts, the Hangzhou Xihu District People's Court released a statement confirming Hu Bin's identity, and said judicial procedures have checked Hu's identity and they have the right man.

But Tan Yue said the court's statement "is not convincing and was meaningless".

"They (the court) can give the same reply even if he was a scapegoat."

Tan said he hoped the judicial department will confirm Hu's true identity in a public and transparent way.

(China Daily July 30, 2009)