Feng Zhijun, party HQ bomber, gets death sentence
A man who set off a series of bombs outside the Communist Party headquarters in Taiyuan in Shanxi province, killing one person, has been sentenced to death, state media reported.
A man who set off a series of bombs outside the Communist Party headquarters in Taiyuan in Shanxi province, killing one person, has been sentenced to death, state media reported.
Feng Zhijun, 42, planted nine home-made devices on November 6 last year. Seventeen other people were injured.
He was convicted by a court in Taiyuan on Friday, Xinhua reported.
Feng, an ex-convict who had served nine years in jail for theft, admitted to the crime after his capture.
Police found home-made explosives at his home and seized the vehicle he was using at the time of the bombings.
The Taiyuan-native planted the devices after his petitions failed to stop a series of demolition orders at his home.
The case has parallels with a bombing in Qiaojia county in Yunnan province two years ago in which three people were killed and 16 others injured in a dispute over forced relocations.
The mainland has seen a spate of violent protests in recent years from petitioners angry about the government's lack of response to their personal grievances.
Last July, a wheelchair-bound man named Ji Zhongxing set off a home-made bomb at the Beijing Capital International Airport. According to Ji, he was paralysed after he was beaten by security officers in Guangdong and began petitioning after losing lawsuits against the government. His petitions were ignored.
You Feizhu, a mainland lawyer who opposed the death penalty, said he hoped Feng's verdict strictly adhered to the guidelines on when to pass the death sentence.
"One person was killed and at least 17 injured - that was probably important in reaching a verdict," You said.
