Huang Minxiang, the suspect behind the two explosions at Peking and Tsinghua universities in late February, was sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday by the Beijing No 1 Intermediate People's Court.

From Fuzhou, capital city of East China's Fujian Province, Huang took the hand-made explosives to Beijing on February 21, and detonated the bombs separately at Tsinghua and Peking universities at lunch time on February 25.

The first explosion took place on the first floor of Heyuan, a teachers' dining hall in Tsinghua University, at 11:50 am, while more than 30 people were eating lunch.

Six people were injured, including a post-doctorate student, a student from Beijing Broadcasting Institute and four teachers.

The second explosion occurred in the Nongyuan dining hall of Peking University at about 1:20 pm. Three people were injured, but none critically.

The three injured were workers at the dining hall - a canteen manager, a sanitary worker and a non-resident student from a nearby private college also working there.

The power of the blast shattered the windows of the north gate of the Nongyuan dining hall at Peking University.

Campus life at China's two most prestigious universities returned to normal several hours after two simultaneous explosions rocked their respective dining halls.

Huang fled to Fuzhou soon after the two accidents, and was caught later by Fujian police.

China Central Television quoted the court as saying that Huang deliberately committed the crime for some personal purpose, probably to attract public attention.

But the report did not say where Huang got the explosives or why he was so keen to attract such attention.

The court considered Huang's actions had endangered the public security and damaged public assets.

The policemen, who had successfully caught Huang in Fujian, were awarded by the Ministry of Public Security earlier for their swift action.

(China Daily GUO NEI 30-04-2003)

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