(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-03-24 14:30

ZHENGZHOU - The head of a village in the central province of Henan was executed for murdering six people in a series of disputes last year, a local court said on Monday.

Xing Guoping, 37, who was director of the Liguizuo Village committee in Jiaozuo City, Henan Province, was executed on Friday, according to the Jiaozuo Municipal Intermediate People's Court.

Xing was convicted of shooting to death two people -- a business partner and the wife of another -- in a dispute last October over profits at a jointly-run brick kiln.

He then shot four other people in a neighboring village following arguments over local affairs. Three of the villagers died at the scene and one died in a local hospital.

The court said that Xing deserved the death penalty because of the murders with an illegally owned-gun.