Farmer-writer-killer sentenced to death

A killer-turned-writer who was responsible for the deaths of four people 23 years ago was sentenced to death by a Zhejiang court on Monday.

The Huzhou Intermediate People's Court ruled on Monday that the killer, surnamed Liu, together with his accomplice and fellow villager, Wang, were convicted of the slaughter of four people at a hotel in Zhili, Huzhou, on Nov 29, 1995.

Though the court did not reveal Liu's full name, earlier media reports identified him as Liu Yongbiao.

The pair were sentenced to death for robbery and murder by the Huzhou court on Monday.

The case received wide public attention as Liu, who was seized by the police in August last year, was a well-known writer in Anhui province and a member of the China Writers Association.

Liu, a farmer with little education, started his literary career by publishing his first piece in a periodical in Hefei, Anhui province, as early as 1985.

He continued his zest for literature by studying at the Luxun Literature Institute in Beijing.

In 2009, he won a prize for literature in Anhui for a collection of novels he had previously published, shooting him to fame as the province's farmer-writer.

In 2017, both Liu and Wang were seized by the police during a DNA sampling test. They soon confessed to the crime and stood trial in Huzhou People's Intermediate Court in June.

China Central Television reported in August last year that Liu Yongbiao said he had previously planned to write about his homicide case in a novel that he planned to name "Atonement".

"Unfortunately I'm not qualified to write this anymore," he sighed.

"I've long yearned for my arrest. Now I can sleep without nightmares," he said.