A court in southwest China's Yunnan Province handed down the death penalty on Monday for a man who was convicted of killing two people after raping one of them, withdrawing a previous ruling that was considered by the public to be too lenient.

The Provincial Higher People's Court sentenced Li Changkui to death after he was retried for his crimes on Monday in the city of Zhaotong. The same court previously sentenced Li to death with a two-year reprieve in March, leading netizens to call for a harsher punishment.

In China, convicts who are given death sentences with reprieves often have their sentences reduced to life in prison.

Li pled guilty to raping 19-year-old Wang Jiafei before killing her and her three-year-old brother Wang Jiahong in the village of Yingge in May 2009. A court investigation found that Li was angry at Wang Jiafei for turning down his marriage proposal.

Wang and Li's families had a dispute on May 14, 2009, leading Li, who was working in south China's Sichuan Province at the time, to return home. He ended up getting in a fight with Li two days later.

Li raped Wang after she passed out during the fight. When she woke up and tried to escape, Li hit her in the head with a gardening implement. He later strangled Wang and her brother and fled the scene of the crime.

Li surrendered himself to police on May 20, four days after the killings occurred.

A court spokesman said after the retrial that Li deserved the death penalty, as "his motivation was evil, his conduct was cruel and the consequences (of his actions) were serious."

In China, all death sentences have to be approved by the Supreme People's Court before convicted criminals are executed.

More than 200 people were present at Monday's retrial, including families of the victims and the defendant, journalists and local lawmakers and political advisors.

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