3 teenage boys to face criminal prosecution for killing schoolmate in north China
The vegetable shed where the body of the victim is buried in Feixiang District, Handan City in north China's Hebei Province.
Three teenage boys accused of killing a schoolmate and burying his body in an abandoned vegetable shed in north China will face criminal prosecution due to their alleged extreme ill-will, prosecutors announced.
The trio is accused of murdering a seventh-grade boy in Feixiang District, Handan City, Hebei Province, on March 10.
As the suspects are between 12 and 14 years old, their criminal accountability was approved by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the provincial People’s Procuratorate announced on Monday.
According to earlier police investigations, the suspects premeditated the killing and dug a pit to bury the body in the vegetable shed one day in advance.
In 2021, China revised its criminal law, lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 14 to 12 years old.
This revision allows individuals aged between 12 and 14 to be held criminally liable for offenses such as intentional homicide, causing death through severe injuries, or using exceptionally cruel methods to harm others.
Such prosecutions require approval from the Supreme People's Procuratorate.
