The Higher People's Court of Guangdong Province on Sept 25 upheld the death sentence of the principal criminal in the robbery and slaying of a college professor six years ago.

The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court made the original ruling on July 18 last year.

Yin Zhilong, the criminal, was accused of leading eight accomplices in the brutal robbery.

They intentionally rammed the professor's car and then forced the man into their van when he got out of his car to check the accident. Yin and his accomplices beat him with an iron pipe and a claw hammer to force him to give them his bank-card passcode. The professor died of traumatic shock.

Yin was arrested in 2010 and sentenced to death in 2011. He appealed the first trial's verdict, alleging that six of the eight accomplices colluded to accuse him of being the principal criminal because they were acquainted with each other but not him.

The provincial higher people's court rejected Yin's petition and upheld the verdict, stating there was no evidence to prove that the accomplices were in collusion, and that the court has verified that Yin was in command during the crime.

The death sentence will be delivered to the Supreme Court for a final review.