CHINA / FILE: More people tried over Xinjiang riots

Record ID: 1959329

  • Title: CHINA / FILE: More people tried over Xinjiang riots
  • Date: 16th October 2009
  • Summary: URUMQI, XINJIANG AUTONOMOUS REGION, CHINA (OCTOBER 14, 2009) (CCTV - NO ACCESS CHINA) POLICEMEN ESCORTING SUSPECTS INTO COURT ROOM SUSPECTS STANDING IN COURT SUSPECT SEATED IN COURT TRIAL IN PROGRESS PUBLIC PROSECUTOR SPEAKING SUSPECTS LISTENING COUNSELS IN COURT PEOPLE SEATED / POLICEMEN STANDING PEOPLE SEATED IN COURT PUBLIC PROSECUTORS IN COURT TRIAL IN PROGRESS SUSPECTS SEATED VARIOUS OF TRIAL IN PROGRESS
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  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA3O57OIBZQICJJQIVUW3P25CMZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Chinese court on Thursday (October 15) handed out three death sentences to people convicted of violent crimes during ethnic rioting in far western Xinjiang in July in which almost 200 people died, Chinese state media said.
    The official Xinhua news agency reported that a court in Urumqi, Xinjiang's regional capital, also sentenced a further three to suspended death sentences, which could be commuted to life sentences in two years.
    The Xinhua report did not specify the ethnic identity of all six defendants, but their names left little doubt they were Uighurs, a Turkic ethnic group that calls Xinjiang its homeland.
    An additional six people have already been sentenced to death for their involvement in the ethnic unrest between Uighurs and Han Chinese.
    State television CCTV showed 14 people being tried on Wednesday (September 14) in three separate court sessions. The CCTV report did not mention what verdicts were handed down to these 14 people.
    Last month, China announced the first charges in connection with the unrest. Twenty-one people were charged with murder, arson, robbery and damaging property during ethnic riots that erupted in Urumqi on July 5.
    In Xinjiang's worst ethnic violence in decades, Uighurs attacked majority Han Chinese in Urumqi, after taking to the streets to protest against attacks on Uighur workers at a factory in southern China in June that left two Uighurs dead.
    Han Chinese in Urumqi sought revenge two days later.
    The violence left 197 people, mostly Han Chinese, dead and wounded more than 1,600, according to official figures.
    Energy-rich Xinjiang, strategically located in central Asia, has been struck in recent years by bombings, attacks and riots blamed by Beijing on Uighur separatists demanding an independent "East Turkistan".
    Many Uighurs resent government restrictions on their religion and culture and a massive influx of Han Chinese settlers which have in some areas reduced them to a minority in their own land.
    Rights groups and Uighur activists also say Beijing grossly exaggerates the threat from militants to justify harsh controls.
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