이유진 간사님이 2월달에 올렸던, 그 기사의 주인공 중 2명이 사형선고를, 1명은 무기징역을 선고받았답니다.
우리나라에서는 칼로 사람을 서너명 찔러죽여도 사형선고했다가는 대법원에서 파기되는데….
COPYRIGHT: Agence France Presse, October 6, 2004
LENGTH: 235 words
HEADLINE: China sentences two to death for smuggling endangered species
DATELINE: Beijing
A Chinese court sentenced two people to death and another to life in jail after they were convicted of smuggling the pelts of nearly 1,400 endangered animals into Tibet, state press reported Wednesday.
Among the pelts confiscated were those of Bengal tigers, golden leopards, otter and lynx, all classified by China as endangered species, Xinhua news agency said.
Officials valued the haul at 63 million yuan (7.6 million dollars), saying it was the largest single seizure of endangered animal products in the region since 1951, the report said.
The ringleader of the group Wang Jie was sentenced to death by the Lhasa intermediate court on Tuesday. Gongbu, a native Tibetan, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve. Such a sentence could mean he serves the rest of his life in prison.
Another Tibetan, Laba Ciren, was given a life sentence of life in prison, the report said.
All three appealed the verdict, it said.
The sentences come as the 166 signatory nations to the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species are meeting in Bangkok to thrash out proposals for regulating an increasingly lucrative but illegal wildlife trade.
The three were arrested with the pelts in October 2003 in Tibet’s Ngamring county, along the border with neighboring Nepal, it said.
Earlier reports valued the haul at only 6.52 million yuan. Wednesday’s report did not say why the value had risen so drastically.
