SPC approves executions of 3 high-profile killers

Three killers in two high-profile cases were executed on Wednesday after China's top court approved their death penalties.

Former Peking University student Wu Xieyu, who killed his mother in 2015, had his execution carried out by Fuzhou Intermediate People's Court in Fujian province.

Zhang Bo, a father who killed his two children by throwing them out of a high-rise building window in 2020, along with his girlfriend, Ye Chengchen, who had prompted him to commit the act, had their executions carried out by Chongqing No 5 Intermediate People's Court.

In China, a death sentence made by lower courts must be submitted to the Supreme People's Court for review, and the penalty can only be implemented after it is approved by the top court.

Wu, Zhang and Ye, all 29, had been told that they had the right to apply for a visit from their family members before the executions. Wu did not make an application.

Both cases have been followed keenly by the public due to their shocking nature. As of 4 pm Wednesday, the details of their executions had received more than 830 million views on microblogging platform Sina Weibo.

Wu drew intense public attention in March 2016 after Fuzhou police offered a reward for information leading to his arrest. A month earlier, the body of his mother, Xie Tianqin, had been found in her faculty dormitory apartment at the middle school where she worked in Fuzhou, and Wu was named as a suspect.

After being on the run for more than three years, Wu was captured in Chongqing in 2019.

According to the SPC statement approving Wu's death sentence, Wu, from Fujian, had been depressed and had tried to commit suicide in 2015 after his father died of an illness. He began to think his mother's life was meaningless, so he prepared to kill her in early 2015 and bought items for that purpose.

On July 10 that year, when Xie arrived home, Wu hit her repeatedly in the head and face with a dumbbell, resulting in her death, and then fled the scene, the statement said.

To cover up the killing, Wu "borrowed" 1.44 million yuan ($201,000) from relatives, telling them he and his mother needed the money while traveling together overseas for study, but in reality, he squandered the money, it said.

He purchased more than 10 fake ID cards to hide his identity and avoid arrest, it added.

Previous reports said that Wu's relatives turned to the police in February 2016 after not hearing from Xie for an extended period of time. Later, Xie's body was discovered at her home.

In August 2021, the Fuzhou court sentenced Wu to death for intentional homicide, fraud and the illegal purchase of ID cards, and the ruling was upheld by the Fujian High People's Court in May last year.

The SPC said it agreed with the rulings made by the courts in Fujian, noting that the facts in Wu's case were clear, the evidence sufficient, the application of the law correct and the sentencing appropriate.

It added, "Wu should be punished, as his killing method was cruel, which seriously violated human ethics and trampled on the public's emotion, and had a severe negative effect on society."

As for the case in Chongqing, the top court also agreed with the decision made and upheld by local courts, saying "Zhang and Ye must be penalized for their behavior that seriously challenged the legal and moral bottom line, with an extremely despicable motive and particularly cruel method."

The SPC statement approving the pair's death sentences said Zhang had divorced his wife after having an extramarital relationship with Ye in February 2020. Ye, knowing that Zhang's ex-wife would take custody of the two children, considered them obstacles to her relationship with Zhang.

Zhang and Ye conspired to use a fabricated accident of a high fall to kill the two toddlers — a 2-year-old girl and a 1-year-old boy. Ye repeatedly urged and pressured Zhang to commit the crime and limited the time frame for it, the statement said.

On Nov 2, 2020, Zhang grabbed the two kids, who were playing on the windowsill in the guest bedroom, and threw them from the 15th-floor apartment window, causing their deaths.

Zhang and Ye were sentenced to death by the Chongqing Intermediate Court in late 2021. In May last year, the Chongqing High People's Court upheld the verdict.