Beijing: A total of 26 people went on trial
in China Monday over a violent mining dispute in south-western
Yunnan province that claimed nine lives last year.
On November 18 last year, 120 people, wielding steel
pipes and knives, were involved in an incident near Xiaosongdi
Coal Mine in Luxi County as their opponents set off explosives
and opened gunfire.
Nine people were killed and 48 injured.
Wang Jianfu, contractor of the Xiaosongdi Coal Mine,
stands accused of planning and carrying out the killings with
dozens of his staff.
He has been charged with seven crimes, including murder,
setting off explosives and illegally trading in guns,
according to the Intermediate People`s Court in Honghe
Prefecture, which administers the county.
Wang had had a dispute over mining resources with Zheng
Chunyun, the owner of a neighbouring mine.
It is thought that Zheng sent the knife-wielding mob to
Wang`s mine that day, only for them to be ambushed by Wang`s
group.
Twenty officials involved in the case have been punished.
Five of them, including a deputy head of Luxi County and a
commissar with the county public security bureau, were fired
in June.
The trial is scheduled to last for four days.
PTI
