four relatives were sentenced to death

four relatives were sentenced to death for murdering a hitman they had hired, Chinese state media reported.
Beijing-based Jianhao company chairman Yuan Baojing, his brother and a cousin all received the death penalty for murdering Wang Xing, whom they had hired to kill a businessman after a deal went sour.
Another cousin of Yuan received a two-year suspended death sentence.
Wang was shot by one of the cousins in October 2003 after he had started blackmailing them over the planned murder, the Beijing News said. The four appealed the ruling handed down by the Intermediate People's Court of Liaoyang City in north-eastern China, the report said.