SHANGHAI — An unemployed man charged with killing six Shanghai police officers in a knife attack was sentenced to death Monday, state media reported.
However, the 28-year-old seemed to engender as much sympathy as condemnation from many Chinese, who expressed concerns online about police treatment of suspects and the fairness of the legal system.
The Shanghai No. 2 People's Intermediate Court found Yang Jia guilty of premeditated murder and ordered the death penalty for the Beijing man, said the official New China News Agency. On July 1, Yang stabbed a security guard at a police building in Shanghai's Zhabei District, started a fire at the gate, then attacked nine officers inside the building with a knife.
Shanghai's public security bureau said at a news conference July 7 that Yang had sought revenge after Zhabei police interrogated and detained him for six hours last fall over a stolen bicycle.
In the wake of the stabbing attack, there has been an outpouring of comments online from citizens nationwide, as well as from Chinese media, questioning how a seemingly minor incident could trigger a rampage that left six people dead and four others injured.
Many Chinese raised suspicions that Yang was beaten by police, which Shanghai authorities denied. Police said Yang in fact had rented the bicycle, and that he demanded about $1,450 in compensation from authorities for mental anguish.
The legal proceedings and the secretive trial of Yang fanned more criticisms on Internet sites, some of which apparently were blocked or shut down Monday.
"If you and I were Yang Jia, we could be sentenced under such namely legal but unclear ways," said one posting on a lawyer's blog. Said another: "They have a guilty conscience, so all the websites closed the comment function for this news. This is red terror."
Officials at Shanghai police headquarters and the No. 2 People's Intermediate Court would not comment Monday. It was unclear whether Yang would appeal the ruling. A death sentence faces automatic review by China's Supreme Court.
Yang's attorney, Xie You- ming, was not taking media calls Monday, said a colleague at Shanghai's Mingjiang law firm. Xie has been an advisor to Zhabei District, the local jurisdiction, prompting questions about whether the lawyer could represent Yang fully.
