A man has been sentenced to death for stabbing two officials in southwest China at a roadblock monitoring the presence of possible carriers of the new coronavirus, a judicial source said on Monday.
Ma Jianguo was sentenced to death on Sunday by a local court after a deadly incident on February 6 while trying to force a roadblock of this type.
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The man, who was driving a minivan, had refused to stop at an epidemic checkpoint in Honghe, a village in Yunnan province, bordering Vietnam, and his passenger had tried to clear the obstacles blocking the road, according to the local court.
An official who was filming the scene on his cell phone then received a stab in the chest and abdomen from Mr. Ma. The driver then attacked another man who came to the rescue, the statement from the Honghe Intermediate Court added. The two officials died from their injuries.
The court found that Mr. Ma had “not obeyed“to local executives,”ignored national law“relating to the epidemic and committed a crime”extremely hateful“.
In China, authorities at all levels have adopted drastic traffic restrictions and containment measures across the country to stem the spread of the new virus that appeared in late 2019.
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