Li Jiwen and Zhang Yu were sentenced to death after being found guilty of mugging by the No.2 Intermediate People's Court of Beijing in a first-instance trial held Tuesday.
Li and Zhang were deprived of their political rights and personal property for life, Wednesday's "Beijing Youth Daily" reported.
Two other accomplices, Wan Pengpeng and Wang Qinglai were sentenced to 15 years and five years of imprisonment respectively. Wan was deprived of his political rights for three years and was given a fine of 30,000 yuan (US$ 3,614), while Wang was fined 10,000 yuan (US$ 1,204), according to the court ruling.
The court verdict said investigations prove that from November 19, 2001 to December 11, the four criminals, all transients from outside Beijing, were responsible for nine cases of mugging. The four had attacked passerbys from behind with a hammer in the evening and then stolen their belongings, injuring eight women and killing one policeman, in Beijing's urban districts, including Chaoyang, Fengtai and Dongcheng.
The four robbers were detained from December 15-21, 2001.
(People's Daily February 7, 2002)
