A MEDICAL professor and four accomplices were jailed by a Beijing court yesterday over assaults on two fraud busters.

Xiao Chuanguo and co-conspirator Dai Jianxiang were sentenced to five and a half months behind bars at Shijingshan People's Court.

Three hitmen they hired received jail terms from 45 days to four months.

All five admitted charges of stirring up trouble and assault.

Xiao, a professor in the school of medicine at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in central C hina's Wuhan City and head of the urology division at the Union Hospital affiliated to the university, had hired three hitmen via Dai, a relative, to attack "science cop" Fang Zhouzi, known for exposing academic and scientific frauds, and a financialjournal editor, Fang Xuanchang.

Xiao blamed the duo's exposure of alleged academic frauds for his failure to gain membership to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2005 and for instigating mass tort litigation among his patients over alleged medical malpractice.

Xiao had paid the hitmen 100,000 yuan (US$14,800), the court heard. However, Xiao told the court the money was paid not as a reward but as financial aid to Dai so that his child could study overseas.

Fang Zhouzi was not at yesterday's hearing.

He had expressed his concern over the likelihood of an impartial judgment days before as both he and Fang Xuanchang had said Xiao's plot should have been regarded as attempted murders instead of the less serious charges filed by the Shijingshan prosecutors office.

Fang Zhouzi escaped a sneak attack on his way home in Beijing on August 29, suffering only bruises.

Fang Xuanchang was heavily beaten by steel bars on the night of June 24, suffering deep cuts to his head.

But a forensic test by police showed Fang Xuanchang "only with slight injuries."

The two Fangs had demanded a supplementary investigation and petitioned the court to delay the hearing and re-examine Fang Xuanchang's injuries.

Fang Xuanchang told The Beijing News on Saturday that he had tip-offs that two of the hitmen were professional killers but he had not been allowed enough time to collect evidence.

Meanwhile, dozens of Xiao's patients demonstrated outside the court demanding punishment for Xiao as they claimed his treatments had made their conditions worse.

• medical [´medikəl] a.医学的；医疗的 (初中英语单词)
• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• assault [ə´sɔ:lt] vt.袭击；殴打 n.攻击 (初中英语单词)
• relative [´relətiv] a.有关系的 n.亲属 (初中英语单词)
• scientific [,saiən´tifik] a.科学(上)的 (初中英语单词)
• financial [fi´nænʃəl] a.金融的，财政的 (初中英语单词)
• journal [´dʒə:nəl] n.日记；日报；杂志 (初中英语单词)
• failure [´feiljə] n.失败；衰竭；破产 (初中英语单词)
• academy [ə´kædəmi] n.专科学校；学会；协会 (初中英语单词)
• reward [ri´wɔ:d] n.&v.报答；报酬；奖赏 (初中英语单词)
• suffering [´sʌfəriŋ] n.痛苦；灾害 (初中英语单词)
• beaten [´bi:tn] beat 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• investigation [in,vesti´geiʃən] n.调查(研究) (初中英语单词)
• professional [prə´feʃənəl] a.职业的 n.自由职业 (初中英语单词)
• meanwhile [´mi:n´wail] n.&ad.其间；同时 (初中英语单词)
• punishment [´pʌniʃmənt] n.罚，刑罚 (初中英语单词)
• exposure [ik´spəuʒə] n.暴露；曝光(时间) (高中英语单词)
• membership [´membəʃip] n.会员资格；全体会员 (高中英语单词)
• hearing [´hiəriŋ] n.听力；听证会；审讯 (高中英语单词)
• stirring [´stə:riŋ] a.活跃的；热闹的 (英语四级单词)
• academic [,ækə´demik] a.学术的 n.大学学生 (英语四级单词)
• overseas [,əuvə´si:z] ad.(向)海外 a.海外的 (英语六级单词)
• likelihood [´laiklihud] n.可能，相似性 (英语六级单词)
• impartial [im´pɑ:ʃəl] a.公平的，无私的 (英语六级单词)
• august [ɔ:´gʌst] a.尊严的；威严的 (英语六级单词)