2 sentenced to death for explosion in Yunnan

Two men were sentenced to death on Wednesday after being found guilty of plotting and causing an explosion that killed four people and injured 16, a court in southwest China's Yunnan Province has ruled. The explosion happened in May 2012 in a community service center in Qiaojia County, Zhaotong City, killing three residents and an official. The Intermediate People's Court in Zhaotong City heard during the trial, which opened on Jan. 16, that Deng Deyong and Song Zhaoyu, planned to bomb the center because Deng had a house relocation dispute with officials. Deng made an explosive device with a cellphone, light switch and electric detonators. According to the prosecutor, Deng was unhappy to have been excluded from entitlement to house relocation subsidies because he did not have a property ownership certificate for his home. On May 10, 2012, Deng and Song promised to offer a resident, Zhao Dengyong, a temporary job if he carried a bag containing the explosive into the service center and turned the power switch on. They offered Zhao 100 yuan (16.54 U.S. dollars), according to the prosecutor. Deng detonated the bomb as soon as Zhao went into the center at around 9 a.m.. Zhao was among the four people killed in the explosion. The court on Wednesday also ordered Deng and Song to pay 980,000 yuan (161,000 U.S. dollars) in compensation to 28 people who suffered losses in the blast. An explosive dealer, Chen Hezhi, who sold 35 flash detonators and six electric detonators, was tried at the same trial with Deng and Song. He was sentenced to eight years in prison for buying and selling explosives illegally. All three informed the court they would be appealing their sentences.