A photo from the official Sina Weibo account of Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People's Court shows Lin Senhao standing the trial. [Photo / weibo.com/u/3714102617]

A former Fudan University student who killed his roommate by poisoning in April 2013 was sentenced to death at Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People's Court on Tuesday.

China's court cases of the year

Lin Senhao, 28, was a postgraduate student at Fudan University's School of Medicine. He was charged with intentional homicide for the killing of his roommate Huang Yang.

According to prosecutors, Huang died as a result of drinking water from a dispenser that had been poisoned with N-Nitrosodimethylamine. Lin stole the highly toxic chemical from a lab at Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital, where he worked as an intern. Huang became sick after drinking the poisoned water on April 1 and died 15 days later. Lin didn't confess his involvement until April 12 after he was detained when fellow students reported him to police.

Postgrad: poisoning roommate was April Fool's prank	Postgrad denies roommate's poisoning was intentional