Shanghai arsonists given severe punishment
By Jiao Xiaoyang (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-08-26 05:59

SHANGHAI: Two people from a local relocation company were given death sentences with a two-year reprieve and another given life imprisonment on Tuesday for starting fires in a neighbourhood that was subject to relocation, resulting in the death of an elderly couple.

The Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Court, in the first instance, sentenced Wang Changkun and Yang Sunqin of the Shanghai Urban Development Housing Relocation Co Ltd to death with a two-year reprieve on the charge of arson. Lu Peide, another company worker was sentenced to life imprisonment on the same charge.

The court found that the three set the fire in a neighbourhood off the city's Urumqi Road in the small hours of January 9, intending to scare uncooperative residents into signing relocation deals and moving out. An old couple in their 70s were killed in the fire.

Shanghai police started a murder inquiry following the finding of evidence of arson. All eyes then turned to the relocation company, which was eager to get its hands on the land. Investigations soon narrowed suspects down to the three.

Yang Sunqin was also deputy general manager and holder of 10 per cent of shares in the company. The State-owned Shanghai Urban Development Group owns 50 per cent of the company's stakes.

Yang thought up the idea of the arson attack, Wang worked out the details and Lu set the fire, according to their confessions given to the court. Following the attack, Yang even induced some workers at the company to commit perjury during police investigation.

The attack in January was not the only one perpetration by the relocation company. The same neighbourhood has suffered 12 fires since 2004, and local police have got confessions that show at least five of them were planned and carried out by the relocation company, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Shanghai's real estate and construction administrations have launched a massive shake-up of relocation jobs in the city since the case came to light.

(China Daily 08/26/2005 page3)

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