China court upholds death sentences for 5 mine killers

A Chinese court upheld the death sentences of five persons who killed four mine workers and faked the murders as accidents to claim compensation of nearly USD 3 lakhs posing as their 'relatives', state media reported today.
The Hebei Provincial Higher People's Court yesterday dismissed the appeal of Zhang Weilan, Zhou Jun, Zhong Chengyong, Xu Chengde, Yan Shiyong who cheated 1.8 million yuan (USD 290,000) out of mine owners.
The case is eerily similar to the movie "Blind Shaft", which won a Silver Bear at the 2003 Berlin Film Festival.
The five managed a 21-member gang that bludgeoned four persons to death with hammers at iron mines in Wu'an City and Shexian County, both in Hebei, from October 2011 to August 2012, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The gang then faked the murders as accidents and received money from the mine owners in the name of victims' "relatives".
They managed to get 1.8 million yuan from the first three incidents before being caught by police during the fourth attempt, in which they had asked for 600,000 yuan in "compensation".

Women gang members were responsible for luring the victims, mostly bachelors who were too poor to marry, while others scouted the shafts, killed the victims and extorted the money.
The Handan City Intermediate People's Court found all the five guilty of murder and sentenced them to death in August, 2014 following which they lodged an appeal with the Hebei Provincial Higher People's Court, the report said.

Yan Dengpeng, another suspect, was sentenced to death with a two-year suspension.
Wang Huatao and two other suspects were sentenced to life in prison.
The others were sentenced to different terms of imprisonment.