Beijing: A Chinese court Friday sentenced a former mining tycoon to death on charges of organising and leading "mafia-style crime and murder", a media report said.
Liu Han was found guilty by the Xianning Intermediate People's Court in central China's Hubei Province which announced the verdicts for the first trials of 36 members of the alleged mafia-like gang led by Liu, Xinhua reported.
Along with Han, his brother Liu Wei was also sentenced to death on the same charges. Both were convicted of leading a criminal organisation as well as murder, a court statement said.
They were deprived of all political rights and the court will confiscate all their personal property, the statement said.
The 36 defendants were prosecuted in seven trials, the last of which ended April 19.
