A Chinese court sentenced a teenage boy to life in prison on Monday for murdering his classmate, capping a case that sparked a national debate over the treatment of juvenile offenders.

Three suspects, all aged under 14 at the time of the murder, were accused in April of bullying a 13-year-old classmate surnamed Wang over a long period before killing him in an abandoned greenhouse.

The grim details of the case, in which the killers reportedly attacked Wang with a shovel before burying his body, drew public attention to how the law deals with juveniles accused of serious crimes.

One boy surnamed Zhang, was found guilty of intentional homicide, a court in north China's Hebei said Monday.

given 12 years in jail. The third boy surnamed Ma, whom the court found did not harm the victim, was sentenced to correctional education.

In 2021, China lowered its age of criminal responsibility from 14 to 12 for "special cases" such as inflicting death by "extremely cruel means".

The Hebei case was thought to be one of the first to apply the lower age limit.

The prosecution said in its verdict that because the defendants were "over the age of 12 but under the age of 14 at the time of the crime...they should bear criminal responsibility" in accordance with Chinese law.

It added that means of the killing were "particularly cruel, and the circumstances were particularly vile".

Under Chinese law, murder is punishable by imprisonment or the death penalty (AFP)