A Chinese court has sentenced two teenagers over the death of their classmate in March.
The Hebei teenagers, identified only by their surnames Zhang and Li, were 13 when they plotted to kill their classmate Wang and divide his money between them.
After attacking Wang with a shovel, they buried him in an abandoned vegetable greenhouse, the court said in a statement on Monday, adding that “their methods were particularly cruel and the conditions were particularly despicable.”
The teens were sentenced to life imprisonment and 12 years in prison, respectively.
The ruling draws a line under the brutal case It sparked intense public outrage when it was first reported.
His family and lawyer said in March that Wang had long been bullied at school by three classmates, while the court noted on Monday that he had a conflict with Zhang and Li.
A third teenager who was also at the scene, known by his nickname “Ma”, was not given a criminal penalty, the court said.
On March 3, Zhang brought Wang to the greenhouse on a motorcycle, while Li rode a separate motorcycle with Ma. Along the way, he told Li Ma about the plan Zhang had hatched to kill Wang.
When the four arrived at the greenhouse, Zhang began assaulting Wang with a shovel and Li assisted him. After witnessing the attack, Ma left the greenhouse.
Zhang and Li then buried the victim, and the three walked away from the scene.
Zhang then used Wang's phone to transfer money from his WeChat account to Lee and to himself. He also took the SIM card out of Wang's phone and ordered Ma to destroy it.
The police approached Zhang, Li and Ma, and Ma eventually led them to the crime scene.
The court said Zhang was the main culprit because he planned the crime and incited others to join in, and his actions directly caused Wang's death.
The court said that Li, at the same time, was complicit and actively participated in the act and shared the money with Zhang.
The authorities said that Ma would undergo correction and education, a method usually applied to minors who have committed crimes.
The sentence handed down to the teens on Monday was praised by social media users, who were waiting to hear the punishment for the heinous crime. But some pointed out that the ruling was too lenient.
“A person who is only 12 years old will be a young man when he is released. I hope he does not take revenge on society when he gets out,” read a popular comment on Weibo, referring to A recent wave of mass killings has sparked fear across the country.
Others mourned Wang's death. “As a parent, I feel really sorry for the child,” another Weibo user said. “It's really heartbreaking.”
