A court in China’s Muslim majority Xinjiang region on Thursday sentenced a further six people to death over July’s ethnic riots.
The first round of trials began on Monday for the 108 suspects who have been charged in connection with the violence. Twenty-one people are standing trial this week for murder, arson and robbery. On July 5, at least 197 people were killed and at least 1,600 injured when ethnic violence broke out in Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital, between Han Chinese and native Uighurs, one of 55 minority groups in China.
On Tuesday, six Uighur people were given the death sentence. On Thursday, a further six — five Uighurs and one Han Chinese — were sentenced to death in three different cases. Nine others got life sentences or lesser terms.
Authorities said most of the victims in July’s violence were Han Chinese. At least 825 people, mostly Uighurs, have been detained over the riots. No date has yet been fixed for the trial of the 88 others who have been charged.
