Three people from a local relocation company were sentenced on
Tuesday for starting fires that killed an elderly couple in a
neighborhood arrowed for relocation. Two were given the death
sentence with a two-year reprieve and the other life
imprisonment.
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 for arson. Lu Peide, another company worker was
sentenced to life in prison.
The court found that the three set fire to a neighborhood off
Urumqi Road on January 9, intending to scare uncooperative
residents into signing relocation deals and moving out. An elderly
couple in their 70s was killed in the fire.
Shanghai police started a murder inquiry after they discovered
evidence of arson.
The company was known to have been eyeing the land, and
investigations soon narrowed suspects down to the three.
Yang Sunqin was also deputy general manager and holder of 10
percent of shares in the company. The State-owned Shanghai Urban
Development Group owns 50 percent of the company's shares.
According to confessions given to the court, Yang engineered the
idea of the arson attack, Wang worked out the details and Lu set
the fire alight. Following the attack, Yang forced some workers at
the company to lie to the police during the investigations.
The company was responsible for at least another five attacks on
the same neighborhood in 2004, according to Xinhua News Agency.
Shanghai's real estate and construction administrations have
launched a massive shake-up of relocation projects in the city
since the case came to light.
(China Daily August 26, 2005)