Two men imprisoned for robbery

Two men have been sent to prison for beating a recovering drug addict until he agreed to give them 80,000 yuan ($13,027), Minhang District People's Court said Monday.

The two defendants, who were not identified, were sentenced to 11 years and 5 years in prison respectively, according to a court press release. They were among a group of six men charged with robbery over the incident. The other four were tried in a separate case.

The two defendants approached the victim, an unidentified man, in June 2012 after he was released from a compulsory drug rehabilitation facility for medical reasons, the court said. They demanded that the man pay them 100,000 yuan for freeing him from the rehabilitation facility.

Prior to his release, the man made a deal with the defendants to pay them for releasing him. However, once he was released without their help, he refused to hand over the money.

The next day, the defendants returned to his residential area in Minhang district with four accomplices. They beat him, dragged him into a car and took him to an isolated area, where they continued to beat him and demand money.

He eventually agreed to pay them 30,000 yuan in cash and 50,000 yuan via a bank transfer.

The two defendants were unable to support their claim that they used their connections to release the victim from the rehabilitation center, the court said. The court ruled that their claim was just an excuse to rob the man.

It gave one of the defendants an 11-year prison sentence because he was a repeat offender.