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Robber-killers get death penalty in SW China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-05-14 23:01

KUNMING -- Two thieves in southwestern China's Yunnan Province Thursday received the death penalty for killing a police officer in conjunction with robbing and assaulting a woman last November.

One of the assailants stabbed a local traffic policeman to death when he tried to stop the robbery.

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The Intermediate People's Court of Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture announced the verdict Thursday.

The court heard that on November 16 Li Hongzhuan, a 30-year-old traffic policeman in Mengzi County of the prefecture was on his way home from work when he stopped a man who was robbing a woman of her gold bracelet. Another man then attacked Li with a knife and stabbed  him in the chest.

Li was sent to a hospital but died of huge blood loss twenty minutes later.

The court also stripped the two defendants, Xiao Chenghua and Wang Changpin, of their political rights for life and confiscated all of their private property.

The two robbers said they had no disagreement about the facts established by the court.

After the verdict, Xiao Chenghua, who stabbed Li Hongzhuan to death, said he would not appeal to a higher court, while the other thief, Wang Changpin, expressed the intention of appealing.