BEIJING, Oct. 14 -- A Chinese court sentenced three leaders of a family-run crime syndicate to death on Tuesday for running scam compounds in Myanmar's Kokang region, in a case that turns on a question the verdicts do not address: how many of the people those compounds held were criminals and how many were captives.

The Quanzhou Intermediate People's Court and the Nan'an People's Court in Fujian Province tried 61 defendants from what Chinese media call the Wei family gang. Three received death sentences, three life imprisonment and 55 prison terms of 3 years and 3 months to 24 years, with fines, confiscation of property and deportation, Xinhua reported. Al Jazeera named the condemned as Wei Huairen, a leader of the gang, Chen Dawei and L...