A court in northern China sentenced four men to death on charges of organizing and carrying out an attack that killed six villagers protesting the seizure of their land for a power plant, an official newspaper reported.
The four were convicted of leading an attack by more than 250 men armed with guns, crossbows, clubs and other weapons against villagers in Shengyou village in the province of Hebei.
Another three convicted attackers were given suspended death sentences, usually commuted to life in prison after two years.
Others sentenced by the Intermediate People's Court in the northern city of Handan included the former party secretary of the city of Dingzhou, where the violence occurred, according to a report in the Hebei Daily seen yesterday.
The party secretary, He Feng, was sentenced to life in prison, along with contractors Zhang Li and Zhen Yuehui.
The three were found to have ordered the attack, but specified that villagers should not be killed, the report said. A total of 27 people were sentenced last week over the June 11 incident.
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