Mekong murderers' execution just: authorities

The upcoming execution of four Mekong River murderers manifests judicial sovereignty and judicial authorities' protection of Chinese citizens' legitimate rights and interests, prosecution authorities in southwest China's Yunnan Province have said.

Myanmar drug lord Naw Kham and three of his accomplices, all of whom were convicted of murdering 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong River in 2011, will be executed on Friday, the Kunming Intermediate People's Court(KIPC) said on Wednesday.

They will be executed by lethal injection in the city of Kunming in Yunnan Province, the court ruled.

Naw Kham's three accomplices were identified as Hsang Kham from Thailand; Yi Lai, stateless; and Zha Xika, Laotian.

"The trial of the Naw Kham case is in accordance with the law and manifests related rules of China's criminal laws," Yan Hui, presiding judge in the first instance of the case, told Xinhua in an interview on Wednesday.

The case built up sufficient evidence. According to China's criminal laws, the criminal measures taken by the four murderers were held to be extremely cruel and the consequences extremely serious. "They were sentenced to death due to combined punishment according to laws," Yan added.

Prosecutor Zhang Weiting from the People's Procuratorate of Yunnan Province told Xinhua that "intentional murder is the heaviest crime in China and the murderers deserve their sentence."

The execution will be supervised by the Kunming People's Procuratorate.

"Lethal injection can better demonstrate judicial progress," said Cai Shunbin, spokesman for the KIPC.

The KIPC received a judgment regarding the judicial review, as well as the execution order on Feb. 22. The convicts were informed of the judgment on Feb. 24.