GUANGZHOU: Two courts in Guangzhou, capital city of south China's Guangdong Province, sentenced 25 people to death in separate trials Thursday in nine kidnapping-for-ransom cases.
In one case handed down by the Municipal Intermediate People's Court of Guangzhou involving three defendants, one was given the death penalty, another 12 years in prison and another 10 years in prison. The family of the victim, who died at the hands of the defendants' violence, will receive compensation of over 150,000 yuan ($22,000).
In another case, defendants kidnapped and held captive for three days and nights an 11-year-old child. The two defendants planned to blackmail the child's father. They were sentenced to 11 years and 8 years in jail and fined up to 5,000 yuan.
Guangzhou's Municipal Intermediate People's Court and the People's Court of Zengcheng, a suburban city of Guangzhou, also sentenced 26 others to jail terms of up to 20 years.
