Court upholds sentences of 21 convicted for Urumqi riots

URUMQI: A higher court has upheld the original sentences handed down to all 21 people convicted so far for crimes connected to the July 5 riots in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The 21 defendants were the first batch of rioters to be tried for offences, including murder, following the riot that left 197 people dead and more than 1,700 injured.

The defendants had their first-instance trials at the Intermediate People's Court of Urumqi earlier this month.