Chinese Court Sentence 55 People in Xinjiang Stadium

A court in China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region announced Tuesday in a sports stadium with 7,000 sentences to 55 accused of murder and terrorism, among other crimes, in a display reminiscent of humiliation and common public complaints in China during the Revolution Cultural (1966-1976). The event took place in the city of Yining, Yili prefecture, and was attended by party officials and residents, according to the official press published Wednesday.

The photos show the stadium grandstands filled with people and a number of trucks with prisoners dressed in orange vest, their head bent forward and soldiers behind them. Three of the defendants were sentenced to death for using axes and other tools to kill a family of four people last year. Court officials issued the penalties for crimes including murder; separatism; organizing, leading and participating in a terrorist group; protection of criminals, and rape.

The public display was intended to demonstrate the “resolute determination to repress vigorously the  ‘three forces,’ according to Li Minghui, deputy secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Yili, referring to separatism, extremism and terrorism. Officials also announced formal arrest of another 38 suspects and detaining 27. The public spectacle adds up to a similar event in the region last week, in which 39 people were sentenced to prison  for terrorism.

China has launched a yearlong nationwide anti-terrorist campaign, after the string of attacks on civilians occurred in recent months both within and outside Xinjiang, but focuses in particular in the region west of the country, home to the Muslim Uighur minority.

The public hearing of the judgments occurred just days after the suicide bombing carried out last Thursday in an outdoor market in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, in which 43 people died, including four terrorists, and injured more than 90. the fifth suspect was arrested the same Thursday night 250 kilometers south of Urumqi, police said.

The government blames the attacks on Islamic extremists with connections abroad. He says Xinjiang separatist groups want to create a separate state called East Turkistan, although some experts question the influence and reach of the most prominent group, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM). Urumqi suffered another bombing and stabbing last month at a train station in which three people were killed, including the two attackers, and 79 wounded. Beijing says more than 200 people have been arrested in Xinjiang this month and 23 extremist groups have been dismantled.

Uighur exile groups and defend the rights of this minority claim that the real cause of violence and disturbances are Beijing ‘s repressive policies against their religion and culture, and discrimination against Uighurs against the Han, the majority ethnic group in China, which controls the politics and economy of Xinjiang, a region rich in mineral resources.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Chinese government used public trials to combat the crime wave that arose in the process of opening and reform, and the reading of the judgments in public, intended to humiliate the accused and quench the thirst – public punishment was common. But in recent years this practice has been mainly restricted to Xinjiang and Tibet.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=44654

Posted by Khalil Khan on May 30 2014. Filed under World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.