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Download Tao Rukun, the 17-year-old who set fire to a girl for refusing his romantic advances, was sentenced to 12 years and one month in prison by a district court in Anhui province on Thursday. The Baohe District People's Court in Hefei handed down the sentence to Tao for the charge of inflicting intentional injury. Zhou Yan, Tao's former classmate, also 17, suffered massive burns to her face and body when she was splashed with lighter fluid and set on fire by Tao in September. "Zhou Yan's family is not satisfied with Tao's prison sentence of 12 years and one month. They were expecting life imprisonment," Wang Yalin, the lawyer representing Zhou, said after court on Thursday. Although her family was unsatisfied with the result, the girl cannot appeal to a higher court because it is a public prosecution case, said Li Zhixian, another lawyer who was assigned to represent Zhou after her family had applied for legal aid. "But we lodged a protest against the ruling," she added. Tao's lawyer and parents declined to comment on the sentence. The incident became one of the most high-profile cases of the year when it was revealed Tao's parents were local government officials - Tao's father works for the Hefei urban planning bureau and his mother is with the Hefei audit office. Some questioned the court's fairness and transparency when it presided over the closed-door trial on April 23. | 
