The Chinese government shocked the world by broadcasting execution activities on China Central Television (CCTV). The broadcast included legal commentary and interviews with the condemned men, but stopped just short of showing their actual execution by lethal injection. Four Burmese nationals were found guilty of killing 13 Chinese Sailors in 2011. They were also found guilty of drug trafficking, kidnapping and ship hijacking on the Mekong River, according to a Mar. 2 article in GoKunming.
The broadcast triggered a word explosion at Chinese micro-blogging websites. While many people were outraged at what they felt was an indecent or ghoulish display, many others insisted the show did not go far enough and should have shown the actual executions.
In the U.S., Twitter carried a much slower discussion. After it became clear that the broadcast did not include the actual executions, the discussion has calmed down to a trickle of media links and comments.
According to a May, 2012 GoKunming article, the leader and kingpin was Naw Kham, who is featured prominently in the broadcast. He and his three co-defendants led Chinese police on a cross-border investigation that culminated in a 90 minute gun battle and required coordination between military and police from China, Burma, Thailand and Laos.
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