Chinese court upholds death penalty for cop killer

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-20 13:41

SHANGHAI -- A Shanghai court has upheld the death penalty for Yang Jia, a jobless Beijing man who stormed into a Shanghai police bureau earlier this year and killed six officers.

Thsi undated file photo shows the police killer, Yang Jia after he was arrested. [163.com]

After the final trial of Yang's case, the Shanghai Higher People's Court turned down his appeal against the death sentence handed down earlier by a local court, according to the final verdict the court announced Monday.

The Shanghai court's death sentence verdict needs to be ratified by the Supreme People's Court in Beijing.

Yang, 28, was sentenced to death on September 1 in the first trial at the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court for killing six officers and injuring four others in the July 1 assault.

A second trial was held last week to hear Yang's appeal.

Yang stabbed a security guard at the police branch in Shanghai's Zhabei District and started a fire at its gate. He then forced his way into the building and attacked nine police officers, killing six of them. Three other police and the security guard were injured.

Yang was apprehended at the scene and confessed to the killings.

He was reportedly revenging Shanghai police for a lengthy interrogation last October, when he was questioned for riding an unlicensed bicycle. He later sued the officers for 10,000 yuan (1,464 US dollars) in compensation for psychological damage but the claim was rejected.