Chinese gets death for killing two Filipino tourists

BEIJING — A 25-year-old Chinese man was sentenced to death after a Beijing court found him guilty of killing two Filipino tourists in April, the state media said yesterday.

The Beijing Youth Daily said the Beijing Number Two Intermediate Court passed the sentence on Wang Gongzuo, a farmer from eastern China’s Jiangsu province, for stabbing the two to death and injuring a third Filipino in the capital.

The Philippine foreign affairs department said the incident took place in Tiananmen Square while Chinese newspaper accounts said it occurred in a nearby building.

Philippine officials identified the slain tourists as Emmanuel Madrigal and his daughter, Regina Mia.

After the sentence was handed down, Wang said he would not appeal it, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.

Wang’s motive for killing the two is unclear. After the incident occurred, the Beijing Morning Post reported that he had wanted to "affect society using extreme actions," but didn’t elaborate.

China routinely hands down the death penalty in murder cases.

Human rights groups have repeatedly criticized what they describe as China’s extensive, arbitrary use of capital punishment. They claim that China accounted for 3,400 executions in 2004, nearly 90 percent of the world total. — AP