Defending sanctity of law, upholding social justice

The Intermediate People's Court in Urumqi, the capital of the western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has sentenced seven Uygur men convicted of crimes such as murder, arson and robbery in the July 5th riot. Mobs on that day claimed 197 lives and injured more than 1,600.

Six death penalties and a life-imprisonment sentence were handed down on Monday, October 12 in the firs verdicts over the unrest in Xinjiang region about 100 days ago.

The seven tried were among the 21 people who have been charged. Trials for the remaining 14 are scheduled in the coming days, Hou Hanmin, a spokeswoman for the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, said on Monday.

People of all ethnicities in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region are unanimous in the view that lawbreakers, regardless of their ethnic backgrounds, should be held accountable and be punished according to law. The verdicts made at the trial bring joy and happiness to all people in the region and appease some victims' families.

At a meeting called by the Law Committee of the Xinjiang Uygur Regional People's Congress, Eligen Imibakhi, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, said that the July 5 riot was a grave criminal incident to disrupt the social order and undermine social stability, encroach upon the personal safety and assets security of all ethnical people and sabotage the hard-won excellent situation of ethnic unity in Xinjiang. Hence, it is mere daydreaming for any offenders to get it their way, he said. So, he added, the Standing Committee of the Xinjiang Regional People’s Congress would give a firm support to the regional public security agencies and judicial organs in their crackdown on criminal acts of violence.

Meanwhile, leading members of the relevant regional government departments and some legal counselors and experts articulated their views during their discussions on the prosecution and trials of the first verdicts in the July 5th incident. They deemed that the public trial of the seven offenders in three cases commands public support and represents the public will; they also cited the trial as an eloquent proof of the great strength of the unity of all ethnical people in China and that the "three forces" of terrorism, separation and extremism in Xinjiang are not enjoying popular support and unacceptable, and so they are doomed to fail.

The public trial of offenders in the July 5th riot, who were convicted of such crimes as beating, smashing and looting, murder and arson, has complied with the aspiration of all ethnical people in Xinjiang to defend the sanctity of law and bring offenders to justice in strict compliance with law; it shows the determination of the Communist Party and Chinese government to combat crimes and protect the masses of people. The timely and fair sentencing of offenders in line with law would surely give a deterrent to offenders and spur the prompt resumption of social order in Urumqi.

A neighbor community social worker in the Xining Road of Urumqi, Yibulayin Paxiaguli, said any offender would be brought to justice regardless of his or her ethnic backgrounds, whereas Abadula Mulati, a member of the Urumqi municipal committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), acknowledged that all people who observe public morality with an intuitive knowledge and a sense of justice will endorse and support the court verdicts.

Atrocities or exceedingly brutal offences committed in the infamy July 5th incident have filled people nationwide with great indignation and all religious people in Xinjiang have vehemently condemned the vicious offences of rioters, who would be given due punishment which they rightly deserve, said Great mullah or ahung named Abiz Nurmamat at Zhongqiao Mosque in the city of Urumqi.

By People's Daily Online and contributed PD reporter Dai Lan

http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2009-10/14/content_359528.htm