Chinese Court Sentences 5 Arsonists to DeathThe Supreme People's Court of Liaoning Province in northeast China has recently sentenced to death five arsonists in a case leaving nine people dead and 15 seriously injured.Yang Qing, Han Shi and three others were sentenced to death for committing arson in the early morning of August 29, 1999 at the Huxi Hotel in Shenyang, the provincial capital, killing nine tenants and severely injuring 15 others. According to court investigation, Yang was contracted to manage the said hotel in January 1995, and he rented out the hotel to a man named Chen Yankun in December 1997. The two had a dispute later over the rent, upon which Yang wanted to cancel the contract but Chen was opposed to it. It was at this time that Yang came up with the idea of an arson so that he could get a payment from the insurance firm and have a good excuse to expel Chen. In June 1999, Yang insured the hotel for 5 million yuan at the People's Insurance Company of China (PICC). After that, he asked Pang Xuedong to find people to implement his plan. Pang introduced him to Han Shi, Sun Yugong and Huang Zhiming. Yang promised them a payment of between 30,000 to 50,000 yuan each and a bigger sum for Pang. He also bought clothes, rubber shoes, knives and gasoline for their use. A sixth person, Xu Xu, provided the veils |
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