Two of three “left behind children” convicted of “particularly cruel” murder. The case that shocked China.
A court in Hebei province, in northern China, this Monday sentenced a 13-year-old teenager to life in prison for his role in the murder of a classmate, in a case that shocked Chinese public opinion.
The Handan Intermediate Court sentenced Zhangaged 13, to life in prison, for the murder last March of Wang, the same age, reported the official Xinhua news agency.
The accomplice, Li, also 13 years old, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. The third minor involved, Ma, who was the same age and who did not directly participate in the murder but helped destroy evidence, was freed from criminal responsibility and will undergo a reintegration program.
How the premeditated crime happened
The crime originated in a dispute between the defendants and Wang.
Zhang devised the plan, persuading Li to collaborate in Wang’s murder and distribution of money. Preparations included choosing an abandoned greenhouse as the crime scene and digging a hole to bury the body.
On March 10, 2024, Zhang lured the victim to the agreed location. Li, in turn, transported Ma to the location under the pretext of charging the battery of his electric motorcycle.
During the journey, Ma was informed of the plan. In the greenhouse, Zhang attacked Wang with a shovel, while Li pinned him down. Ma, upon witnessing the act, fled the scene.
After committing the crime, Zhang and Li buried the body, They stole money from Wang’s account and destroyed his cell phone. Ma later cooperated with authorities, providing the location of the victim’s location.
“Particularly cruel”
The court found that Zhang and Li’s acts, being deliberate and carried out “in a particularly cruel way”constituted the crime of premeditated homicide.
Although both were 13 years old at the time of the crime, the Chinese Penal Code stipulates that, in serious cases, minors aged between 12 and 14 can be held criminally responsible if authorized by the country’s Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office, which the institution did in April .
Zhang was identified as primarily responsible for conceiving and executing the plan, while Li was identified as an active accomplice, albeit with a lesser degree of responsibility.
“Children Left Behind”
At the time, the case raised concerns about juvenile delinquency in Chinese society.
After the incident, the local press explained that the three accused teenagers are “children left behind”a term used on Chinese social media to describe minors who live with their grandparents in rural areas while their parents work in cities.
Furthermore, Wang was being abused at schoolwhich led several voices in the Asian country to call for the “creation of specialized systems to prevent ‘bullying’ in schools”, for the adoption of a “zero tolerance” attitude towards aggressors and support measures for victims .
According to 2020 census data cited by , there are around 67 million “abandoned” children in China. Academic research indicates that these children are more vulnerable to mental health problems, bullying and involvement in criminal activity.
