New Culture View
May 21, 2009

A former government official of Siping, Jilin province, who was found guilty of multiple robberies by a court in the city, was sentenced to six years in prison, today's New Culture View reports. Before his arrest last year, Yu Haibing, the convict, was the vice director of the United Front Work Department (统战部) of Siping's Tiexi district.

On May 21, 2008 around 22 o'clock, a local television anchor was robbed of a handbag containing money and a mobile phone inside in front of her home. The police traced the signal of the stolen mobile phone to Yu's home. After Yu was arrested, he confessed that he had committed other robberies. Of eleven other robbery cases that the police suspected that Yu was involved, only one victim was found to testify against him.

The court determined that Yu suffered from a certain degree of clinical depression when the crime was committed, but still retained control over his behavior, citing a medical report made on May 25 this year. When talking about his motivation, Yu said that he lost his mind after "feeling everyone around makes more money than him".

Following yesterday's report on Man Wenjun's arrest, the newspaper reports today that Mr Man received 14 days in jail for using drugs while his wife was likely to face a heavier punishment for supplying drugs.