Yang Jia
| Yang Jia | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Yang Jia 27 August 1980 Beijing |
| Died | 26 November 2008 (aged 28) Shanghai |
| Cause of death | Lethal injection |
| Occupation | Unemployed |
| Criminal penalty | Death penalty |
| Killings | |
| Date | 1 July 2008 |
| Location(s) | Shanghai, China |
| Target(s) | Police officers |
| Killed | 6 |
| Injured | 4 |
| Weapons |
Knife Molotov cocktails |
Yang Jia (Chinese: 杨佳; pinyin: Yáng Jiā; 27 August 1980 – 26 November 2008) was a Chinese citizen executed for murdering six Shanghai police officers with a knife.
Yang received international media attention for the public sympathy accorded to him in China, where, according to exiled writer Ma Jian, Yang has become "a sort of national hero." Beijing lawyer and blogger Liu Xiaoyuan prominently defended Yang.
Yang, a jobless 28-year-old Beijing resident described as a loner, was reported to have been arrested and interrogated by the Shanghai police in October 2007 for riding an unlicensed bicycle. According to his later testimony in court, he was insulted during the interrogation and beaten after being brought back to the station, leaving bruises on his arms and back. He then sued the police for maltreatment, to no avail.
According to Chinese authorities and media, Yang Jia ignited eight petrol bombs at the front gate of the police headquarters in Zhabei, a Shanghai suburb, at about 9:40 am, 1 July 2008 – the anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. He then stabbed security guard Gu Jianming, who tried to stop Yang, with a knife. Subsequently, Yang charged into the building and randomly stabbed nine unarmed police officers, four in the lobby and duty room and five more while making his way up to the 21st floor, before police managed to subdue him.
Six policemen suffered stab wounds in their lungs, livers and necks and bled to death. Besides the knife and molotov cocktails, Yang carried with him a hammer, a dust mask and tear gas spray.
Yang's trial was delayed on account of the 2008 Summer Olympics. On 27 August 2008, Yang was tried behind closed doors in a one-hour trial at the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court. Four days later, the official news agency Xinhua announced that he had been found guilty of premeditated murder and received a death sentence, as had previously been expected.
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