A man who killed 35 people in a car attack in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai last month was sentenced to death on Friday, state media reported.
On November 11, Fan Weiqiu, 62, deliberately ran over people exercising outside a sports complex in his small SUV, the worst attack in China since 2014. He was detained at the scene with self-inflicted knife wounds and fell in He was in a coma, police said at the time.
His case was publicly tried on Friday, according to the state broadcaster. closed circuit television reported, and the verdict was reached the same day.
The court said the defendant’s motives “were extremely vile, the nature of the crime extremely heinous, the methods particularly cruel and the consequences particularly severe, representing significant harm to society,” state media said.
In front of some of the victims’ families, officials and members of the public, Fan pleaded guilty, he added.
The court found that Fan had “decided to vent his anger” over “a broken marriage, personal frustrations and dissatisfaction with the division of assets after the divorce,” according to the report.
online anger
Violent crime is generally rare in China compared to many Western countries, but the country has seen a number of mass casualty incidents this year.
The stabbings and vehicle attacks have challenged its reputation for good public safety, unsettling residents and officials alike.
Some analysts have linked the incidents to growing anger and despair over the country’s slowing economy and a sense that society is becoming more stratified.
In Zhuhai, it took nearly 24 hours for officials to reveal that dozens of people had died, and videos and discussions about the attack were censored on social media. A makeshift monument outside the sports center was cleared within hours, according to a worker. AFP They acted following an “order from above.”
The fury and shock unleashed by the case was evident on social media on Friday, with comments on the Weibo platform praising the court for reaching a quick decision, some calling for an immediate execution.
One user said Fan “should not be allowed to celebrate the New Year.”
