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Gang head pleads guilty
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ZHANG JUN, the alleged gang leader who has confessed to 28 murders, pleaded guilty on Monday and asked for a death sentence from the court.
“I ask the court to give me the death penalty .... Chen Shiqing, Li Zejun and Zhao Zhenghong should also be executed. As for others, I ask the court to punish them depending on the seriousness of the crime they committed. Don't kill those who don't deserve death," Zhang was quoted as saying in the courtroom.
Looking back on his past, Zhang made the following statement: “Poverty drove me onto this road. My father had TB and my mother died of cancer when I was 12. I dreamed of getting rich because my family was so utterly destitute. Then when I was 17, I was sent to be reeducated through labour for three years, which flared up my anger against the sociey."
He then made apology to his wife Yang Mingyan and his mistress Chen Le and their parents.
He said he was very much concerned about his two sons and daughter.“I hope you will grow up to be good people. Study hard and learn more about the law," Zhang said.
Zhang, 34, was arrested in Chongqing last September after the botched robbery of an armoured car. He began his string of robberies in 1993, sometimes acting alone and sometimes with Li and other gang members, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
Zhang has confessed to the 28 murders, 22 of which were premeditated. The trial of the gang, who are allegedly responsible for the biggest spree of armed bank robberies since the founding of the People's Republic of China, has garnered enormous public attention and comes as the government revives a “strike hard" campaign against organized crime.
The court is scheduled to give its final ruling on the case on April 21. (Alfred Zhang)
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