Zhao Chun, leader of an organized crime ring in the suburban county of Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning Province, has been sentenced to death for crimes including murder.

The ruling was given by the Intermediate People's Court of Shenyang City in the recent trial.

Both of his accomplices, Gao Feng and Liu Tao, who were hired by Zhao as hatchet men to kill the victim with the surname of Xu, were also given death penalties, with a two-year's reprieve for Liu, for being convicted of diverse crimes.

The court was told that Zhao, who suffered gun wounds in both his legs on Jan. 15, 2005, suspected that the injury was inflicted by Xu's men and decided to take revenge on Xu.

Zhao then found four hatchet men, including Gao and Liu, told them his revenge plan, and provided them with guns. On June 15, 2005, Zhao's hatchet men hid below Xu's apartment and after Xu left his house, they shot him. Xu died after being shot ten times in his legs.

Zhao, as well as the four hatchet men he hired, all went into hiding after the murder. But Zhao, and Gao and Liu, were soon arrested and five guns were seized from Zhao's residence.

In a court hearing held in January this year, Zhao confessed to crimes of murder and illegal possession of weaponry. Both Gao and Liu admitted the murder and confessed more crimes they had committed prior to the murder.

The other hatchet men involved in the murder are still on the run.

Source: Xinhua