Chinese court rejects pleas of six who killed 13 sailors
27 Dec 2012 6:27 AM IST
A Chinese court on Wednesday rejected appeals from six people, including the Myanmar drug lord Naw Kham, convicted of murdering 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong River last year. The court upheld death penalties for the case’s prime convicts Naw Kham and three of his henchmen.
The Provincial Higher People’s Court of Yunnan also sustained death sentences with two year reprieve for the two other Myanmar convicts.
The six were convicted of intentional homicide, drug trafficking, kidnapping and hijacking by a local court in Kunming, capital of Yunnan, in November.
Nicknamed ‘The Godfather,’ Naw Kham, according to Chinese prosecutors, was the boss of the largest illegal armed drug trafficking gang on the Mekong River, which flows through China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
The gang was busted earlier this year in a joint operation conducted by police from China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand after the brutal murders of Chinese sailors triggered calls to rein in rampant crime in the border region.
The Provincial Higher People’s Court of Yunnan also sustained death sentences with two year reprieve for the two other Myanmar convicts.
The six were convicted of intentional homicide, drug trafficking, kidnapping and hijacking by a local court in Kunming, capital of Yunnan, in November.
Nicknamed ‘The Godfather,’ Naw Kham, according to Chinese prosecutors, was the boss of the largest illegal armed drug trafficking gang on the Mekong River, which flows through China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
The gang was busted earlier this year in a joint operation conducted by police from China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand after the brutal murders of Chinese sailors triggered calls to rein in rampant crime in the border region.
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