Teenagers Convicted of Setting Fire to Cyber Cafe

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, August 31, 2002

Teenagers Convicted of Setting Fire to Cyber Cafe

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Two teenagers were convicted of setting fire to a Beijing cyber cafe and sentenced to life in prison by the Beijing No.1 Intermediate Court Friday, They were also deprived of political rights for life.

The boys, identified by the surnames Liu and Song, along with a girl surnamed Zhang and a boy Zhang, 13, used gasoline to set the Lanjisu Internet Cafe ablaze to take revenge on staff who had refused to let them use computers there in June this year. Twenty-five were killed in the blaze.

The girl, Zhang, received a 12-year prison term. The boy, Zhang, was spared from incarceration due to his age and sent to the Beijing Public Security Bureau for special education.

The 24 people who died in the blaze in the early hours of Sunday morning are all students at nearby universities and schools.

When the fire broke out, they were trapped inside the unlicensed second-story cafe, which had bars across its windows and just one exit, which was locked. Another 13 people were injured, many suffering terrible burns, according to reports.

As soon as news of the arrest broke, China's Internet chat rooms---one of the freest public forums for discussions available to Chinese people---erupted with shock, anger and concern about social stability.

"This is not an issue of Internet bars. It's a problem in the education of our youth," said one writer.

"These two boys were going to school. How can the school allow them to have haircuts like that? ... Did the teachers and principal bother to pay attention to them?" one participant asked.

The Beijing government statement said both youths were regularly absent from school following their parents' divorces of the two families.

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