Man sentenced for blackmailing cemetery in Beijing

BEIJING - A Chinese man has received a year in prison for stealing a cinerary casket and blackmailing the cemetery manager, a Beijing court said on Thursday.

The man stole a cinerary casket from a cemetery in Changping district, Beijing in December 2015, the Changping district people's court said.

He phoned the cemetery manager and asked for 300,000 yuan ($47,000) to return the casket, and later lowered the ransom to 45,000 yuan. He was eventually caught by police.

The court found him guilty of blackmail and extortion. He was sentenced to one year in prison and fined 2,000 yuan.

Thursday is Qingming Festival, or Tomb-sweeping Day in China.