BEIJING, Oct 11: A Chinese court today sentenced two persons to death and another to life imprisonment for killing a woman at a McDonalds outlet when she refused to join a Christian doomsday cult.
Cult members Zhang Fan and Zhang Lidong, who confessed their role in beating the woman to death in May in Zhaoyuan City, were sent to gallows by Shandong’s Yantai Intermediate People’s Court, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.
The court sentenced their accomplice, Lyu Yingchun, to life while two others Zhang Hang and Zhang Qiaolian to seven years of jail terms respectively.
All the five Chinese members of the cult, confessed and regretted the slaying of a woman in McDonalds outlet for her refusal to give her phone number.
They approached the woman surnamed Wu as part of their drive for recruiting new members for their cult called Quannengshen in Chinese, which means “Almighty God”.
They asked for her phone number. But when she refused to give her number, the five members started beating her, branding her to be a demon.
About 1000 activists of the cult, which reported to have taken deep roots in parts of the country side in China, were detained during the trial.
According to Chinese law, a cult is an illegal organisation that tries to control people by deifying the sect leader, delude members under the guise of religion or in other names and engage in activities that harm society.
China currently lists 14 such illegal cults, including Quannengshen and Falungong. (PTI)
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