An employee of a brick kiln at the center of the forced labor
scandal in north China's Shanxi Province has been sentenced to death,
while the boss of the kiln was given a prison term of nine
years.
Zhao Yanbing, who was hired to supervise workers in the kiln,
was found guilty of manslaughter by the Intermediate People's Court
of Linfen City, Shanxi, according to a press conference held by the
Shanxi Provincial Higher People's Court on Tuesday.
Zhao had previously admitted on national television to beating a
mentally handicapped man to death for not working quickly enough
last November.
Foreman Heng Tinghan was given life imprisonment for
intentionally injuring workers and for illegal detention. Following
his arrest last month, Heng famously said about his role in the
scandal, "I felt it was a fairly small thing."
The boss of the kiln, Wang Bingbing, the son of a local
Communist Party village chief, was sentenced to nine years in
prison for illegal detention.
Twenty-six other employees were given prison sentences. Six
taskmasters, convicted of forcing workers to labor in brick kilns
owned by Wang in Caosheng Village from March to late May this year,
have been sentenced to jail terms ranging from 18 months to three
years.
The workers had been forced to labor overtime without payment.
During the period, 18 workers were injured, one seriously, in
unspeakable working conditions.
A total of 29 brick kiln bosses, foremen, supervisors or
taskmasters, tried by courts in different cities and counties of
Shanxi in seven separate cases, have been given jail terms so far,
the court statement concluded.
Sentences of an additional 12 people involved in five cases are
expected to be made public in a few days, the court spokesman
said.
(Xinhua News Agency July 17, 2007)
