Dec. 15
CHINA:
Japanese gets suspended death sentence for drug smuggling attempt
A court in Shanghai this month handed down a suspended death sentence to a
31-year-old unemployed Japanese man for attempted drug smuggling, the
Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai said Wednesday.
On Dec. 3, the man surnamed Furusawa from Tokyo was sentenced by the
Shanghai No. 1 People's Intermediate Court for trying to board a plane
bound for Japan at Shanghai airport with 1.56 kilograms of a stimulant
drug.
Furusawa's death sentence has been suspended for two years, during which
time if he does not commit any serious offenses while in custody his
sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment.
Furusawa, who has been held by the authorities since November 2003, has
appealed the ruling.
A Japanese consulate official said that the Japanese government does not
have any right to intervene in the case.
Seventeen Japanese citizens have been detained in China since last year
for drug-related crimes. On Nov. 30, a court in Dalian held a hearing for
two citizens, aged 38 and 61, on charges of trying to smuggle 3 kg of the
stimulant "ice" out of China. The death penalty is a possible ruling.
In February, a 61-year-old Japanese man was sentenced to death at a
district court in the northern Chinese city of Shenyang for trying to
smuggle 1.25 kg of stimulant drugs from China to Japan. The man is
appealing the ruling.
(source: Asia News)
