BEIJING - A Chinese mine boss has been convicted and sentenced to life in prison in the beating death of a reporter, a court official said Thursday, a high-profile case that prompted an unusual intervention by President Hu Jintao.Hou Zhenrun, the head of a small unlicensed mine outside the northern city of Datong, was accused of organizing a gang of five men to beat reporter Lan Chengzhang and his colleague, Chang Hanwen, on Jan. 10. Lan, who had allegedly gone to the mine to conduct interviews, died the next day.
The Intermediate People's Court of Linfen city in Shanxi province convicted Hou on Wednesday of causing the death of another by malicious injury and sentenced him to life in prison, said a court official who would only give his last name, Wang. The official Xinhua news agency reported the same outcome.
Wang said the five men who beat the reporters received jail terms of five to 15 years. A sixth was sentenced to a year in jail for harboring the suspects.
Hou has already appealed the sentence and the case is expected to move to the Shanxi Provincial High Court, Wang said.
The death of Lan, the highest profile case of violence against journalists in recent years, prompted an unusual demand by President Hu for an investigation.
Lan's family expressed disappointment with the ruling.
"We are dissatisfied with the result because the sentence is too light," Lan's brother-in-law, Li Wenxian, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. He said the family wanted the death penalty for Hou and that similar cases had resulted in death penalties.
However, Li said, the family was pleased with the judgment in a related civil case that awarded the defendants to pay Lan's relatives $40,500 in compensation. Lan is survived by his wife and two daughters, 14 and 5.
Lan, a newly hired reporter for the Beijing-based China Trade News, died in a hospital from head injuries the day after the attack. Chang sustained a broken arm and other injuries.
Unconfirmed reports said Lan may have been trying to collect money from Hou in return for not writing about his business.
Li said the family strongly denies such claims and insists Lan went to the mine for legitimate reporting work.
Chinese reporters often cut deals to write positive stories or suppress negative news in return for bribes or promises to buy advertising in their publications.
While the government condemns such practices, journalists and academics say they are often driven by official policies that exert tight political control on content while forcing publications to struggle for revenue.
