Chinese court upholds death penalties for Mekong murderers (1/3)

Six appellants convicted of murdering 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong River last year hear their verdict at a court in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, Dec. 26, 2012. The Provincial Higher People's Court of Yunnan on Wednesday rejected appeals from the six people who were convicted of intentional homicide, drug trafficking, kidnapping and hijacking by a local court in Kunming last November. The provincial higher court upheld death penalties for the case's prime convicts Naw Kham, the Myanmar drug lord, and three of his right-hand men. The court also sustained sentences for the two other Myanmar convicts, known by their Chinese names Zha Bo and Zha Tuobo. They were handed a death sentence with two-year reprieve and eight years in prison, respectively. (Xinhua/Liu Xuebin)