China has given a two-year suspended death sentence to a man who drove his car into a crowd in front of a school in the center of the country, an act committed according to the court to “vent his personal emotions”.
• Also read: 35 dead in car-ramming attack: China removes flowers in tribute to victims
• Also read: 35 dead in a car-ramming attack: China does not hesitate to prevent the dissemination of sensitive information
• Also read: Car ramming attack in China: 35 dead and dozens injured
On November 19, Huang Wen “rushed his car” in front of a primary school in Changde, in Hunan province, “hitting several people, including students,” state television CCTV reported.
When Mr. Huang's vehicle broke down and stopped, he got out of the car with a weapon and attacked passers-by before being apprehended, lightly injuring 30 people, including 18 schoolchildren.
The court found that the convict had acted to “evacuate personal emotions”, particularly after “financial losses following investments” and “family conflicts”, said the official media.
The suspended death penalty is a death sentence whose execution is suspended for two years, and which is often commuted to life imprisonment in the absence of new crimes or offenses.
On the microblogging platform Weibo, many Internet users criticized a sentence considered too lenient.
“How is this possible? Shouldn’t he be executed immediately?” writes a user.
“Don’t release him, I’m afraid,” adds another.
Several deadly attacks
China, whose authorities emphasize the high level of public security at the cost of significant social control, was shaken in November by several deadly attacks attributed to isolated individuals.
On November 11, a 62-year-old man drove an SUV into people exercising at a sports complex in Zhuhai, southern Guangdong province, killing 35 people and killing 35 people. around forty injured.
The first elements of the investigation suggest that the driver could have committed these acts due to “his dissatisfaction with the division of property following his divorce”, according to the police.
This is the highest death toll from an attack in China in recent years.
The same month, eight people were killed and 17 injured in a knife attack at a vocational school in the eastern city of Yixing.
Some analysts have linked the actions to growing anger and despair over the country's economic slowdown.
In each case, the authorities quickly censored online publications and dismantled the tribute signs left near the scene of the tragedy.
