15 Gangsters Executed in Northeast China ProvinceCarrying charges of various capital crimes, 15 gangsters were executed in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province Sunday.Courts in nine local cities in the province made the public sentencing of 38 severe criminal cases involving robbery or the use of guns. In Jinzhou, six members of a seven-member gang were given the death penalty for illegally making guns and using guns for robberies, causing 18 deaths and three serious injuries among their victims. The intermediate people's court of Jinzhou also sentenced to death four members of a second criminal group whose five members were found guilty of robbery, theft, rape and injuring others with weapons. Executions were carried out on five members of a 13-member gang in Yingkou on the same day, on robbery, theft and racketeering convictions, while one member was sentenced to death with a two-year probation and another sentenced to life imprisonment. The latter two could have been executed for their role in the same crimes, but they were given a lesser sentence for "major meritorious deeds," according to the court. Since 1996, the group mainly stole automobiles. They were involved in 17 cases with stolen merchandise worth more than 1.5 million yuan. They also killed seven people and severely injured one, according to the intermediate people's court of Yingkou and the higher people's court of the province. |
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