China delivers quick justice in recent high-profile violent cases

Man who killed Japanese boy four months ago latest to get death penalty

- Joyce ZK Lim China Correspondent

Four months after a 10-year-old Japanese schoolboy was fatally stabbed in Shenzhen, a court in the southern Chinese city sentenced to death the man accused of his murder.

The verdict was reached on the first day of the trial on Jan 24, the Kyodo news agency reported, quoting Japanese Ambassador to China Kenji Kanasugi.

It was one of several cases of public violence that have been speedily dealt with in recent months.

Kyodo added, quoting a Japanese official in Tokyo, that according to the Chinese court, the 45-year-old perpetrator had hoped to attract online attention through the attack.

The trial was not open to the media. But for hours that day, Japanese reporters huddled outside the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court, awaiting updates on the case that shook the Japanese community in China and stoked fears among the Japanese of anti-Japan sentiment.

The verdict capped a busy week for China's courts as the Chinese authorities sought to turn the page on four high-profile violent crimes which in 2024 cast a spotlight on "revenge against society" attacks across the country.

Chinese authorities executed two men on Monday for deadly massacres which they carried out in November 2024, and sentenced a third to death on Jan 23 for a knife attack in June 2024.

Asked about the back-to-back resolution of the cases this week, Associate Professor Alfred Wu of the National University of Singapore said: "Before the Chinese New Year, they want to deal with these unfortunate incidents... (in the hope that) the new year will be better." Chinese New Year begins on Jan 29 this year.