Shanghai student's death sentence upheld

Lin Zunyao, the father of defendant Lin Senhao, is surrounded by reporters after Thursday's trial at the Shanghai High People's Court on Thursday, which upheld the death sentence for Lin Senhao. Photo: Yang Hui/GT

Defendant's lawyer, father question evidence and vow to fight on

The Shanghai High People's Court Thursday upheld the death sentence for a graduate student who poisoned a schoolmate at a prestigious university in Shanghai, even as the defendant's lawyer and family member questioned the evidence.

In April 2013, Fudan University graduate student Huang Yang died after drinking from the water fountain in the dormitory. The police concluded that Huang was poisoned, and succumbed to liver and kidney failure. Lin Senhao, Huang's roommate, was formally arrested one month later.

Lin was sentenced to death for intentional homicide in February 2014 by the Shanghai No.2 Intermediate People's Court. Lin appealed the decision, and the Shanghai High People's Court heard the appeal on December 8, 2014.

What Lin had done was cruel and had created a very negative social impact, according to the court, adding that the court could not give a lesser punishment, even though Lin confessed.

In a black jacket, Lin remained calm after the judge announced the verdict on Thursday. He wrote a few statements later, saying although he's not satisfied with the final judgment, he still believes that the judicial system is fair.

Lin stressed that he did not intend to kill Huang and offered to donate his body to a hospital if he is executed.

Lin's father insisted that the court had sentenced his son to death without solid evidence. "The police had based their case entirely on my son's confession. They didn't have any other evidence," said the father while sobbing, adding that he would continue to fight on.

"I'm puzzled why they announced the verdict so quickly to take away my son's life," he told reporters.

It took nearly three months for the Shanghai No.2 Intermediate People's Court to decide after the first hearing was held in November 2013. But the Thursday judgment was made a month after the second hearing.

"This is in no way a valid verdict. The court didn't accept the testimony made by Hu Zhiqiang [a medical legal expert who told the court at the second hearing that Huang died of acute viral hepatitis B according to his analysis], and it didn't offer a proper explanation why," said Si Weijiang, Lin's lawyer.

Si said the verdict failed to answer any of the questions raised during the second hearing, including why the poison identification test was not made with blood samples and liver tissues from the victim's body.

"Earlier tests that confirmed the existence of the poisonous chemical were carried out with specimen that had been passed from several of Huang's classmates. The evidence we provided also shows that a small amount of the chemical widely exists in human blood, tap water and smoke. It could have long been there in Huang's body," Si said.