Three looters of ancient tombs sentenced and executed

Three looters of ancient tombs sentenced and executed

Three people in northeast China's Jilin Province were given the final ruling of death sentence Wednesday and the executions were carried out the same day.

Jin Quanhong, Han Xiangguo and Han Changguo were found guilty of looting a number of tombs which dated back some 2000 years, according to the Higher People's Court of Jilin which made the final ruling.

Between the fall of 1997 and July 2000, they and several other accomplices plundered and damaged a number of valuable frescos in the tombs, then sold them to a person in the Republic of Korea.

The three, along with Cui Zhen who is one of their accomplices, were sentenced to death by the Intermediate People's Court of Tonghua City on July 29, 2002.

The four appealed to the higher court, which upheld the death sentence for the three ringleaders except Cui Zhen, and issued a two-year reprieve to Cui who had surrendered to police and offered useful information, according to the higher court.