Four organizers of the self-burning incident
of Falun Gong practitioners at the Tian'anmen Square early
this year were given sentences of life imprisonment or 7-15
years in prison by a Beijing court Friday.
They were all condemned guilty of intentional
homicide for " organizing, masterminding, instigating
and assisting Falun Gong followers" to commit suicide,
according to a verdict by the No.1 Intermediate People's
Court of Beijing Municipality in its trial of first
instance.
Liu Yunfang, who printed pamphlets
to encourage Falun Gong followers to commit suicide, was
sentenced to life imprisonment with political rights
deprived of for life, and Wang Jindong, who accompanied Liu
to Beijing to prepare for the self-destruction, will face 15
years in prison with political rights suspended for three
years.
Two other organizers Xue Hongjun, 49,
male and Liu Xiuqin, 34, female, were given sentences of 10
and seven years in prison respectively.
A
verdict on a woman who played a lessor role in the incident
will also be announced later today.
In the
self-destruction incident on January 23 this year, a 36-
year-old woman died instantly, and her 12-year-old daughter
died months later because of complications of severe burns.
A 19-year- old girl student from a music college and her
mother were totally disfigured.