China hanged a couple on Wednesday for throwing two small children out of an apartment building’s window, sparking a nationwide outcry.
Zhang Bo and Ye Chengchen were earlier found to be guilty of the death of a two-year-old girl and a one-year-old boy after they fell from the 15th floor of a residential tower in Chongqing, southwest China.
Zhang, the father of the two children, had started an affair with Ye, who was initially unaware he was married and with children.
In a statement, the Chongqing No. 5 Intermediate People’s Court stated, “Ye then pushed Zhang to kill his two children, which she regarded as obstacles to their marriage and a burden on their future life together”.
In November 2020, Zhang threw his two children out of the apartment window in the absence of their mother, whom he had agreed to divorce.
As per the reports, both were convicted of conspiring to kill his daughter and younger son by staging an accidental fall from the 15th floor of his apartment building.
“The couple was sentenced to death in December 2021 and executed on Wednesday”, the court continued.
Data on China’s use of the death penalty is kept secret, even though rights group Amnesty International says the country is the world’s leading executioner, with thousands executed and condemned to death each year.
Zhang and Ye’s crime shocked China due to its cold-blooded premeditation, and the victims’ young.
On Wednesday, their executions swiftly went to the top of a list of trending topics on the Chinese social media site Weibo, with roughly 200 million views.
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