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2 get death penalty for arson in Lhasa riot

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-08 19:17

LHASA -- A Chinese court has sentenced two people to death after finding them guilty of starting fatal fires in Lhasa riot in March last year, a court spokesman said Wednesday.

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Two others were given death sentences each with a two-year reprieve, and another would face life imprisonment, said the spokesman with the Lhasa Municipal Intermediate People's Court.

The five were tried in three separate arson cases, in which altogether seven civilians were killed and five shops torched in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, according to the court verdicts.

Another arson case is still under trial, in which five civilians were killed and a shop burnt down.