China's court cases of the year

By Ma Danning ( chinadaily.com.cn ) Updated: 2013-12-24 19:29:39

Lin Senhao

Lin Senhao stands trial at Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People's Court on charges of intentional homicide on Nov 27, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]

Prosecutors in Shanghai appealed on Nov 27 against Lin Senhao, a postgraduate from a renowned Shanghai university who allegedly murdered his roommate with lab poison on charges of intentional homicide.

Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People's Court heard the case, whose alleged murder of Huang Yang in April prompted a national outcry and soul-searching on the moral education of Chinese youth.

Lin Senhao, the postgraduate medical student at Fudan University, confessed to the act of tainting a water dispenser with a toxic chemical that caused Huang's death, and said he would accept any punishment issued by the court.

He denied bearing a grudge against the victim and intentionally killing him, adding

he intended to play an April Fool's Day trick on some other young men. Lin said he acted because of Huang's arrogance and wanted to give him a hard time.

Police said Lin used N-Nitrosodimethylamine, a deadly chemical compound he took from the university lab, to contaminate a water dispenser in their dormitory on March 31. Huang drank from the dispenser on April 1 and died of organ failure on April 16.

The verdict will be given at a later date,the court said.

The covered-up dead body of student Huang Yang is taken to the morgue of Zhongshan Hospital in Shanghai, April 17, 2013. [Photo by Zhang Ruiqi/Asianewsphoto]