A man who killed volunteer in Harbin sentenced

A man from Harbin, Heilongjiang province, was sentenced to death on Thursday and deprived of political rights for life by the Harbin Intermediate People's Court for intentionally killing an anti-epidemic volunteer. The sentence was announced in a statement online by the Heilongjiang High People's Court.

The killer, Chen Chenglong, was also ordered to pay 656,508 yuan ($101,562) to the victim's family as compensation.

On Jan 21, the epidemic prevention and control headquarters in Harbin's Hulan district released a notice that all residential communities and villages in the district were to be locked down because of an outbreak of COVID-19.

On Feb 3, when the volunteer, surnamed Zhang, tried to prevent Chen, a resident, from leaving the community, Chen took a knife from a plastic bag he carried and stabbed Zhang in his chest and arms.

Zhang died of massive bleeding at the scene and Chen was arrested at home later that day.

The court said that Chen had intended to illegally deprive others of their lives, which constituted the crime of intentional homicide.

Chen's refusal to obey the control measures and killing of the volunteer brought serious consequences and had an extremely negative social impact, the court said, explaining why it did not consider a more lenient sentence.