Yang Jia put to death for murdering six officers
Shanghai executed convicted police killer Yang Jia yesterday, five months after his attack on a district police station left six officers dead and four people wounded.
Despite the violent nature of the crime, Yang, 28, gained sympathy as a symbol of police brutality. The case also raised questions about the fairness of the mainland's legal system.
The death sentence was carried out by lethal injection yesterday morning after the Supreme People's Court, the mainland's highest court, gave its mandatory approval.
Yang's mental state was normal before his execution, and his last meal included rice porridge, China News Service said.
'The methods of his crime were especially ruthless, the circumstances particularly evil,' Xinhua quoted the Supreme Court as saying. 'The consequences and the crime were extremely serious, the damage to society exceedingly great. He should be punished according to the law.'
The death sentence was widely expected. On July 1, the jobless Beijing man threw a bomb at the entrance of the Zhabei District Police Station, stabbed a security guard and then stabbed nine police officers after entering the building.
