Street vendor executed for fatal stabbings

A street vendor in Northeast China's Liaoning province was executed on Wednesday for killing two urban patrol officers and injuring another, the Intermediate People's Court of Shenyang said.

Xia Junfeng, 36, used to sell kebabs near a crossroad in Shenhe district of Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, despite warnings from urban patrol officers that operating a stand in the area was illegal, court documents said.

On May 16, 2009, urban patrol officers took Xia to their office for questioning after he set up his stand, the court said.

Xia then had an altercation with the officers and then stabbed them. Two officers named Shen Kai and Zhang Xudong died and another officer Zhang Wei was injured, the court said.

He fled the scene but was soon captured.

Xia's lawyers claimed that he killed the officers in self-defense when they savagely attacked him in the office, but Xia was sentenced to death in November 2009 by the Intermediate People's Court of Shenyang.

His appeal was rejected on April 30, 2011, by the Liaoning High People's Court.

The execution was carried out on Wednesday morning after the Supreme People's Court endorsed Xia's death sentence.

The Supreme People's Court said in a statement that although the two officers Xia killed should also bear some responsibility for the clash, that isn't enough to warrant a lenient sentence for Xia, considering his crime.

The case has sparked heated discussion.

He Weifang, a law professor of Peking University, said the reason for the widespread public attention on the case is rising concern about the often violent law enforcement methods of urban patrol officers.

Pu Zhiqiang, a partner in the Beijing Huayi Law Firm, said the widespread attention is also due to the plight of street vendors.

Xinhua and Zhao Yinan contributed to this story.