CHINA: 12 SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER DEADLY XINJIANG ATTACK

October 13, 2014: A Chinese court sentenced 12 people to death in connection with a July attack in violence-racked Xinjiang.
Another 15 people were given suspended death sentences, said the Xinjiang government’s web portal, Tianshan.
Thirty-seven civilians and 59 “terrorists” were killed and another 13 civilians wounded in the July 28 attack on a police station and government offices in Shache county, also known as Yarkand, according to state media.
The incident was the bloodiest in Xinjiang since the 2009 rioting involving members of China’s Han majority and the mostly Muslim Uighur minority killed 200 people in the capital of Urumqi.
The sentences bring the number of death sentences passed for Xinjiang-related violence to almost 40 since June.
“In adjudicating the case, the court fully implemented the criminal policy of combining justice with mercy,” Tianshan said.
In addition to the 15 given a suspended death sentence, nine people were sentenced to life in prison and 20 were given sentences ranging from four to 20 years. (Sources: Agence France-Presse, 13/10/2014)