China will put three boys on trial for allegedly murdering another child, a provincial prosecutor has said, in a case that has shocked the country and sparked public debate over the treatment of juvenile offenders.
The three suspects, all aged under 14 at the time of the murder, are accused of bullying a 13-year-old middle-school classmate surnamed Wang over a long period before killing him last month in Hebei.
The details of the case, in which the killers reportedly buried Wang’s body in an abandoned greenhouse, drew public attention to how the law deals with juveniles accused of serious crimes.
China lowered its age of criminal responsibility in 2021 from the international norm of 14 to 12 for “special cases” such as inflicting death by “extremely cruel means”.
Wang’s father has called on social media for his son’s killers to “pay with their lives”.
Under Chinese law, murder is punishable by imprisonment or the death penalty, but those under 18 cannot be given the death penalty despite the lowered age of criminal responsibility.
One of the first applications of the lower age limit is in a case from 2022 in which a boy in Gansu, who was 13 at the time, stands accused of murdering his eight-year-old neighbour. The supreme people’s procuratorate, China’s top public prosecutor, approved an application last month to hold the boy criminally responsible if found guilty, but there is yet to be a verdict in the case.
The Gansu and the Hebei case involve “left behind children” – those who are left in the countryside with family members while the parents go to the cities to work. Data from the 2020 census shows that there are nearly 67 million such children, who are at higher risk of mental health problems, criminal behaviour and being bullied.
The provincial prosecutor said on Monday that it had received a police request last month to criminally try the suspects in Hebei, surnamed Zhang, Li and Ma.
It said it had concluded that the three were between 12 and 14 when they “intentionally committed murder, causing the death of the victim Wang”.
“The circumstances were serious and they should be held criminally responsible,” it said, adding that the country’s top public prosecutor had reviewed the decision.
“While handling cases strictly in accordance with the law, the procuratorial organs will … further strengthen the prevention and treatment of juvenile crimes,” it said.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report, with additional research by Chi Hui Lin
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