China executes driver over death that sparked Mongolian protests
Beijing - China has executed a coal-truck driver for causing the death of an ethnic Mongolian herdsman, sparking protests across the Inner Mongolia region, according to a report seen on Thursday.
The Intermediate People's Court in Inner Mongolia's Xilinhot district carried out the execution of Li Lindong on August 18 'according an instruction by the Supreme People's Court,' said the report posted on the official Xinhua news agency's web page for Xilinhot.
The brief report did not give the charges on which Li was convicted or say if he had used his right of appeal against the death sentence.
The agency reported in June that Li and a second driver, Lu Xiangdong, were tried for murder after the death of the herdsman, who was identified by the single Mongolian name Mergen.
'Mergen and 20 other herders attempted to block Li Lindong's coal truck on May 10, 2011, to protest the noise and dust created by coal trucks running through their village,' the earlier report said.
Li's truck hit Mergen and dragged him 145 metres to his death, it said.
The government said earlier that local courts would try a total of four people on charges of murder linked to the deaths of Mergen and a second Mongolian in clashes on May 15.
The two deaths set off the largest protests by Mongolians in Inner Mongolia for 20 years, with thousands of people gathering in several town and cities in late May and early June.
The demonstrators called for greater respect for Mongolians' rights and traditions as well as punishment for those who caused the two deaths.
Following the protests, Chinese leaders promised to improve the economy and environment of the vast Inner Mongolia region.
But state media in late May quoted officials as saying Inner Mongolia would remain at the forefront of a national plan to expand coal production by developing large open-cast mines.
About 4 million ethnic Mongolians live in China, most of them in Inner Mongolia, where they now make up less than 20 per cent of the region's population of more than 20 million.
Many Mongolians resent what they perceive as encroachment by the majority Han Chinese population upon the region's grazing lands.
The Intermediate People's Court in Inner Mongolia's Xilinhot district carried out the execution of Li Lindong on August 18 'according an instruction by the Supreme People's Court,' said the report posted on the official Xinhua news agency's web page for Xilinhot.
The brief report did not give the charges on which Li was convicted or say if he had used his right of appeal against the death sentence.
The agency reported in June that Li and a second driver, Lu Xiangdong, were tried for murder after the death of the herdsman, who was identified by the single Mongolian name Mergen.
'Mergen and 20 other herders attempted to block Li Lindong's coal truck on May 10, 2011, to protest the noise and dust created by coal trucks running through their village,' the earlier report said.
Li's truck hit Mergen and dragged him 145 metres to his death, it said.
The government said earlier that local courts would try a total of four people on charges of murder linked to the deaths of Mergen and a second Mongolian in clashes on May 15.
The two deaths set off the largest protests by Mongolians in Inner Mongolia for 20 years, with thousands of people gathering in several town and cities in late May and early June.
The demonstrators called for greater respect for Mongolians' rights and traditions as well as punishment for those who caused the two deaths.
Following the protests, Chinese leaders promised to improve the economy and environment of the vast Inner Mongolia region.
But state media in late May quoted officials as saying Inner Mongolia would remain at the forefront of a national plan to expand coal production by developing large open-cast mines.
About 4 million ethnic Mongolians live in China, most of them in Inner Mongolia, where they now make up less than 20 per cent of the region's population of more than 20 million.
Many Mongolians resent what they perceive as encroachment by the majority Han Chinese population upon the region's grazing lands.
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