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Official's murder 'act of revenge'

By Qiu Quanlin (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-14 10:36

HANJIANG, Guangdong -- A Chinese government official was fatally stabbed outside his home after he failed to promote the killer's teacher wife, a court was told.

Chen Jun, a 34-year-old businessman from Hubei province, is accused of masterminding the murder of Huang Zhaoluan, vice-chairman of the Lianjiang committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Huang was attacked in the street about 100 metres from his home on October 20 last year. He died later in hospital.

Yesterday, five men including Chen went on trial for Huang's murder at Zhanjiang Intermediate People's Court.

The court was told Chen paid Huang, also headmaster of the Lianjiang Middle School, a 20,000 bribe three months before the murder and asked his wife be promoted from a primary to the middle school.

But Huang did not promote the teacher and the murder was a "revenge attack", the procuratorate said.

According to police, Chen hired Li Zhongyan, Chen Pixing and Ruan Yuming, aged between 19 and 22, to kill Huang. It's alleged he also gave the men 4,300 yuan to help with their escape. Outside court, Huang's wife, who refused to be named, said there could be other reasons behind the murder.

"It was not just a revenge attack. There should be more (reasons behind the attack)," she told the Guangzhou Daily yesterday.

She admitted Huang had accepted the bribe but did not elaborate further.

The woman also denied former media reports that Huang was having an affair with two women, including Chen's wife.

"I had a very good relationship with him since our marriage a decade ago," she said, adding they had taken a walk together the day before the murder.

Inside the court, the procuratorate said the three men who attacked Huang were released from prison shortly before the murder and deserved serious punishment.

The trio, of Lianjiang, a small city in Zhanjiang of the western Guangdong province, were arrested nearly a week after the murder. Chen was arrested in January.

Another man, Ruan Cong, is accused of harboring the three men after the murder.

The court said verdicts against the five would be delivered after the hearing, but no date has been set.