Six people who caused the death of a resident during a forced demolition last year in Jilin province have been convicted of involuntary killing in a court on Wednesday.

Wang Haibin, the prime culprit, received a sentence of five years in prison, and his accomplices will be imprisoned from three to four years.

Wang, along with five other employees from a local demolition agency, was found guilty of accidentally killing a resident who failed to get out of her house when Wang's demolition team tore down a compound in Jilin's capital Changchun on March 26, 2011.

Liu Shuxiang, 48, was buried under the debris when Wang's team demolished the compound to make way for a commercial property.

Judges of the Liaoyuan Intermediate People's Court on Wednesday ruled that Wang and his team committed the crime of involuntary killing because they failed to set up necessary warning signs.

The case, along with 10 other cases where deaths were caused by forced demolitions, was made public by the central government in September to warn against local governments' misbehavior.

Zhao Yinan