A drone carrying a QR code placard is seen near an expressway toll station in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Feb. 11, 2020. As a measure to help prevent and control novel coronavirus, an online register system for vehicles coming back to Shenzhen has been put into use since Feb. 8. To increase the efficiency, local police officers used drones to carry a QR code at the expressway exits for drivers to get registered with less contact with other people. Photo: Xinhua

A man in Southwest China's Yunnan Province was sentenced to death on Sunday for intentionally murdering two village officials who were on road patrol duty as part of efforts to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Ma Jianguo, a 24-year-old resident in Luomeng village, Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, was given the death penalty and deprived from political rights for a lifetime by the prefecture's Intermediate People's Court, according to a statement published by the local government's press office.

Under the unified arrangement of the prefecture, the village put up barricades between villages to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infections on February 5. 

On February 6, Ma and another villager drove to the road checkpoint and moved the barricade away without permission. 

Zhang Guizhou, an employee working at the checkpoint, took out his cellphone to record Ma's illegal act, which enraged Ma and Zhang was then fatally stabbed. Another employee Li Guomin, who tried to stop Ma, was also stabbed by him. 

Both Zhang, an official from Honghe county dispatched to the village for poverty relief, and Li, a local village official, died. 

The murderer Ma was previously sentenced to a fixed-term imprisonment for intentional bodily harm. He was given a heavier punishment this time because he has committed another crime within five years of his previous misdemeanor, according to the sentence.

Global Times