Stabbed a Japanese minor, 52-year-old sentenced to death in China

A Chinese man has been sentenced to death for stabbing and killing a 10-year-old Japanese student, in a case that raised concerns among Japanese expatriates living in China.

The sentence for the knife attack in the southern city of Shenzhen in September was handed down on Friday, according to reports from Japanese media. The court rulings come as Chinese authorities carried out several high-profile executions in recent days, writes the BBC.

The knife attacks in Shenzhen and Suzhou were among three assaults on foreigners in China last year. Just days before the incident in Suzhou, four American college instructors were injured in a knife attack at a public park in Jilin, in the northern part of the country.

After the attack in Shenzhen, Japanese companies, including Toshiba and Toyota, instructed their staff to take precautions against any possible violence, while Panasonic offered its employees free flights home.

In the Suzhou case, a Chinese court stated that Zhou Jiasheng, 52, carried out the attack outside a Japanese school after losing the will to live due to job loss and unpaid debts.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters at a press conference that the court determined the attack was a premeditated murder, and the sentence was given due to the significant social impact the crime had caused.

However, the court did not mention Japan during the ruling, according to Hayashi, who added that officials from the Japanese consulate in Shanghai had attended the sentencing. Hayashi further stated that the crime, which killed and injured innocent people, including a child, was absolutely unforgivable.

CREATED by:

“KORÇA BOOM”