Beijing's building-collapse case: 15 sent to prison

Fifteen were given prison terms ranging from three to six years for causing a building to collapse that left 10 dead and four injured by a Beijing court on Monday.

The upper tier of a building under construction in a high school attached to Tsinghua University collapsed on Dec 28, 2014, because of an imbalance in the reinforcing bars.

The case was heard at Beijing Haidian District People's Court in late November. During the trial, 14 defendants pleaded guilty and admitted that the accident happened due to their mistake in the construction.

Jing Xin, the man who drafted the construction plan, was found not guilty at the time.

According to the rules, all the details about the reinforcing bars and structure should be written down. But Jing did not note them down.

Jing was sentenced to three years and six months in jail on Monday.

Yang Zezhong, who took charge of the construction, was given the heaviest penalty, six years in prison.

The 15 have not said whether they will appeal the decision in the higher court.