CINA: AVVELENO' 70 BAMBINI, MESSO A MORTE DIRETTORE ASILO

AGI' PER INVIDIA SCUOLA RIVALE, I PICCOLI SI SALVARONO

PECHINO, 4 GEN - Il direttore di un giardino d'infanzia e' stato messo a morte dopo essere stato condannato alla pena capitale per aver tentato di avvelenare con un topicida 70 bambini che frequentavano una scuola rivale, scrive oggi l'agenzia Nuova Cina.

   Huang Hu, 29 anni, e' stato ucciso venerdi' nella citta' di Zhanjiang nella provincia meridionale di Guangdong, scrive l'agenzia.

   L'uomo era stato arrestato lo scorso novembre dopo un'indagine della polizia seguita a un avvelenamento di massa avvenuto in una scuola materna vicino alla citta' di Wuchuan.

   Secondo la fonte. Huang aveva aperto la sua scuola all'inizio di ottobre, ma non aveva avuto successo e allora aveva cominciato a invidiare e odiare un'altra scuola vicina, frequentata da molti bambini.

   Quindi, per vendicarsi, il 24 novembre si era introdotto nelle cucine di questo asilo vicino, e aveva mischiato il sale con della polvere topicida. Il mattino seguente il sale fu usato per il porridge, e la conseguenza immediata fu l'avvelenamento di 70 bambini e due insegnanti.

   Tutti gli intossicati, ricoverati in ospedale, si salvarono.

La polizia scopri' che il topicida, sebbene altamente tossico e la cui vendita era vietata, era disponibile in alcuni supermercati. Huang Hu era stato condannato a morte il 17 dicembre.

CHINA - Man Executed for Kindergarten Poisoning

A kindergarten owner who sickened 70 children by mixing rat poison into salt at a rival school's kitchen was executed Friday in southern China, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

 It was the second execution announced in the past three months in a series of Chinese poisoning cases blamed on business disputes. After initially suppressing details of the cases, authorities have publicized the penalties in hopes of reassuring an anxious public that they are taking resolute action.

 Huang Hu, 29, was executed in Zhanjiang, a city in Guangdong province, which borders Hong Kong, Xinhua said. He was convicted in mid-December after a swift prosecution.

 Huang owned a failing kindergarten in the nearby city of Wuchuang and blamed competition from a nearby school, Xinhua said. He crept into its kitchen Nov. 24 and put poison in salt that was used to make corn porridge.

 Students and teachers who ate the tainted food suffered spasms and vomiting, according to earlier reports. Seventy children and 2 teachers were hospitalized, but all were treated and released.

 The report didn't say how Huang was put to death. China used to carry out most executions with a bullet to the back of the head or neck, but the use of lethal injection is becoming more common.

 Death sentences in China are automatically appealed but rarely overturned. The brief Xinhua report on Huang's execution did not give any details of the legal proceedings.

 China is in the midst of a marathon crackdown on crime that has brought a wave of heightened penalties include death sentences for even nonviolent offenses such as tax evasion.

 Other recent attacks have been blamed on people seeking revenge or hoping to cripple business competitors by poisoning food in restaurants and school kitchens.

 In September, at least 38 people were killed in the eastern city of Nanjing when a snack shop owner sprinkled rat poison on food from a rival shop. The poisoner was executed the next month.

 Authorities initially refused to release details of the Nanjing case and still haven't disclosed a complete death toll.

 Both the Zhanjiang and Nanjing cases involved a powerful rat poison sold under the name "Dushuqiang," banned in China but still widely available.

 Last month, 2 men were arrested on charges that they put rat poison in school cafeteria food in the central city of Changde, sickening 193 students and teachers. Authorities said the men were involved in a dispute with the school. No deaths were reported.