'Hammer professor' out of prison and to appeal
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A professor who hired hitmen to attack two scientific-fraud busters has been released from prison after serving his sentence, Legal Evening News reported yesterday.
Xiao Chuanguo left prison on March 17 still insisting he was not guilty and said his lawyers were preparing an appeal.
But on hearing the news of the release, Fang Zhouzi, the "science cop" who was beaten after accusing Xiao of academic fraud, said: "I think I should employ a bodyguard again now." Fang said he feared further revenge attacks.
Fang also told the newspaper he too would appeal, demanding a more severe punishment for Xiao.
Xiao had behaved well and was cooperative in the prison but was "unsatisfied about the sentence," according to the newspaper.
Xiao, nicknamed "the hammer professor," was fired by Huazhong University of Science and Technology, where he worked in urology division, following the attack.
Police caught Xiao in September last year in Shanghai for hiring hitmen to assault Fang Zhouzi, known for exposing academic and scientific fraud, and a financial journal editor, Fang Xuanchang, who has collaborated with Fang.
Xiao confessed to spending 100,000 yuan (US$15,220) to hire two hitmen through a relative of his to commit the attacks in June and August last year.
Police also arrested the alleged attackers and middleman.
Xiao was sentenced to five and a half months in jail when he appeared in court in Beijing in November.
The editor was badly beaten in a June 24 attack. Fang escaped an attack on his way home in Beijing on August 29, suffering only bruises.
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