Authorities in central China have sentenced 23 people to prison terms of up to 13 years for a Christmas fire in a disco that killed 309 people.
The Intermediate People's Court in Luoyang, a city in Henan province, ended its trials last week but didn't release rulings until judges had consulted with government leaders.
The longest sentence went to Mr Wang Chengtai, a welder blamed for igniting the blaze in the basement of the Dongdu Commercial Building, a shopping mall in Luoyang, said a court official.
An investigation immediately after the accident said sparks from Mr Wang's welding torch set fire to wooden furniture stored in the basement.
Mr Wang and other workers escaped, but smoke suffocated guests at a Christmas party in the mall's fourth-floor disco.
The fire was the second-deadliest since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, according to state media, and it came amid a series of fatal accidents that focused official attention on public safety.
PA