Court upholds penalties to Xinjiang riot convicts

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-10-30 17:31

URUMQI - The Higher People's Court of Xinjiang on Friday upheld the sentences - including nine death penalties - on 21 people who, in six first-instance trials, were convicted of murder and other crimes in the deadly July 5 riot in Urumqi.

The death sentences will take effect after review and approval by the Supreme People's Court, the regional higher people's court said.

The higher court rejected appeals by Gheni Yusup, Ahmatjan Moming, Han Junbo and 12 others who were convicted of murder and other crimes.

All the three second-instance trials involving death sentences were heard in open sessions on Friday.

The nine people who were sentenced to death were Abdukerim Abduwayit, Gheni Yusup, Abdulla Mettohti, Adil Rozi, Nureli Wuxiu'er, Alim Metyusup,Ahmatjan Moming, Tohti Pazil and Han Junbo.

Abduwayit, Rozi and Wuxiu'er were convicted of killing four people and injuring another with rods and rocks.

Abduwayit was also convicted of killing five innocent people by setting fire to a building with others.

Yusup and Mettohti were convicted of beating five people to death and injured two others in five different locations. They also smashed and looted shops and vehicles.

Metyusup and another man together killed three people and seriously injured one person. They also robbed the victims of their mobile phones.

Moming and Pazil were found to have beaten two people to death. He also stole mobile phones and bracelets.

Han was found guilty of attacking two people, one of whom died of their injuries.

The court also reviewed and approved the penalties on six others who did not lodge appeals against the first-instance trial verdicts.

The court ruled that the judgement in the first-instance trials was "appropriate in sentencing and sufficient in evidence."

In the trials, three other people were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, four were given life imprisonment and five others were given jail terms.

They were sentenced in trials on October 12 and October 15.