China has executed a man who 19 years ago killed three officials as they prepared to force his wife to be sterilized in accordance with the now-scrapped family-planning initiative commonly known as the “one-child policy.”

Wang Changsheng of Suixi County in the eastern province of Anhui was put to death on Dec. 4, the Intermediate People’s Court of Huaibei City announced last week.

In 2000, four rural officials prepared to forcibly sterilize Wang’s wife, surnamed Li, after the birth of their second daughter. At the time, family planning laws allowed rural couples to have a second child if their first was a daughter.

Wang and Li were residing at Li’s father’s home village of Miatotai, and the officials planned to bring Wang and Li back to Suixi and arrange for Li to be sterilized. But during the journey, Wang attacked them with a metal hammer, killing three of them. He then absconded from justice for 17 years, changing his name to avoid detection for the murders.

The case is a reminder that the effects of China’s decadeslong one-child policy continue to haunt the country long after its abolition. In 2016, amid concerns of a looming demographic crisis, the policy was changed to allow all Chinese couples to have two children. (Image: VCG)

This story has been updated to correct the time of the murders and the fact that they occurred over a possible forced sterilization, not a possible forced abortion as earlier reported.

(Republished with permission from Caixin Global.)