China executes man who killed two people in coronavirus-rage case
- Ma Jianguo, 24, had been driving friends to a village in Yunnan for a karaoke party when they came to a barricade
- They got into a dispute with travel checkpoint volunteers and Ma stabbed two of them to death, court says
A Chinese man who stabbed to death two people at a coronavirus travel checkpoint in the southwest of the country was executed on Thursday, the Supreme People’s Court said.
Ma Jianguo was driving with friends to a village in rural Yunnan province for a karaoke party when he came to a barricade blocking his path.
One member of the group tried to remove the barrier, sparking a dispute with people manning it.
Ma, aged 24, then stabbed two checkpoint volunteers several times in the abdomen, killing them, the court said in a posting on its official social media account.
At the time of the killings in February tens of millions of Chinese were under complete lockdown at home as the country grappled with a worsening coronavirus outbreak.
“During a grade-one major public health emergency response in Yunnan province, Ma Jianguo refused to abide by epidemic prevention and control policies, as well as traffic control measures,” a ruling on the court’s website said.