The sentences of four key members of the banned Falun Gong cult have been widely supported by people from all walks of life across the nation.

People in the Chinese capital of Beijing agreed with the sentences handed down yesterday by the Beijing No 1. Intermediate People's Court.

Wang Xiurong, an elderly woman in the Xizongbu Hutong, said that the four had promoted the cult and caused many deaths as a result. "They deserve to be punished," she said.

Xu Xiuru of the China Senior Scientists Association said that these key cult members instigated illegal demonstrations outside government departments and institutions which disrupted social order.

University teachers and students in China's largest commercial city of Shanghai stood firmly behind the sentences, which ranged from seven to 18 years.

Teachers at East China College of Political Science and Law noted that the court's range of punishment was appropriate.

People in north China's coastal city of Tianjin also backed the sentences. Wang Tianju, named one of the top ten lawyers in China, noted that China is a country ruled by law. The crimes committed by the four leading Falun Gong members should be punished according to the law, he said.

Editor-in-Chief Zhou Shaolu of the Sciences for Youth magazine recalled the siege of the Tianjin Teachers College last April.

"Some of the Falun Gong members claimed at that time that Falun Dafa is the law that should be upheld, not the laws of the country, " Zhou said. "However, those that opposed the law and acted as enemies of the people will be severely punished according to the law."

Ju Hongju, deputy director of the Public Security Bureau of Siping City, Jilin Province, noted that the sentences have preserved the integrity of the law and reflected public opinion.

Many people from the legal circle in east China's Jiangsu province noted that the court's sentences were fact-based and just. Xue Jimin, vice chairman of the Nanjing Lawyers Association, said that sufficient evidence existed to charge the four cult members with the three crimes.

News of the sentences reverberated across the north China province of Hebei. Li Jinchang, former head of a Falun Gong promotion headquarters in Shijiazhuang, said that the Falun Gong cult had endangered the country and brought harm to the practitioners themselves.

"I have long distanced myself from the cult, and now I am doing what I can to help other practitioners see the true nature of Falun Gong and its dangers," Li said.

In China's southern province of Hainan, many people watched the Central Television coverage of the trial, and championed the sentences.