Hubei bank bombing principal appeals death sentence

The major offender of an attempted bank robbery that saw explosives killing two people and injuring 15 others in central China's Hubei Province late last year said Thursday that he would appeal against his death sentence.

Wang Haijian was sentenced on Monday by the Wuhan Municipal Intermediate People's Court for his leading role in setting off a homemade bomb near a branch of state-owned China Construction Bank in Hubei's capital of Wuhan on December 1, 2011.

Hu Yanmei, Wang's lawyer, told Xinhua that his client has authorized him to prepare appeal documents requesting the Hubei Provincial Higher People's Court reconsider the sentence, under which Wang was also stripped of his political rights for life.

Two of Wang Haijian's accomplices, Wang Wei and Wang An'an, were jailed for 10 years and six years, respectively, for jointly plotting the bank robbery.

The bomb, hidden on a section of pavement in front of the bank, was detonated when clerks were about to load money into a vehicle. Wang Haijian fled the scene on a motorcycle after the robbery failed.

The explosion killed a 16-year-old and a 20-year-old, slightly injured 15 others and resulted in financial losses of about 127,000 yuan (20,320 U.S. dollars).