CHINA. POLICEMAN'S FAMILY SAYS HIS KILLER SHOULD DIE

the family of a Beijing police officer beaten to death in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, said they will appeal against a suspended death sentence handed to the Shanxi police officer who orchestrated the attack.
The Intermediate People's Court in Taiyuan had on the same day given a suspended death sentence to Liu Limin for organising eight local thugs to beat up Li Zhongyi on May 3, 2005, after the two quarrelled over a traffic dispute.
Neither officer was in uniform at the time of the quarrel, nor did they show their police identification. Liu reportedly felt humiliated by the argument and followed his Beijing counterpart to a hotel where he and his family were holidaying.
Liu and his accomplices used wooden sticks and aluminum pipes to beat up Li in a hotel car park and the Beijing officer later died in hospital from brain damage.
Suspended death sentences are usually commuted to life in prison, and the court said it issued a suspended sentence because Liu confessed to police and his family gave Li's wife 50,000 yuan in compensation before the case went to court.
The Beijing officer's wife, Zhao Yang, said the sentence was too light. She said the court had no excuse for leniency because Liu did not surrender to police after the murder and the compensation was not grounds for reducing punishment.
"I will definitely appeal to a higher court," Zhao told the China News Service.