China sentences six Russian citizens for drug smuggling.

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BEIJING, July 7 (Itar-Tass) -- China's Supreme Court has confirmed the
death sentence with a two-year delay in execution for a Russian citizen,
whose name is not revealed.
He was sentenced for the attempt to smuggle into China 2.8 kilograms
of heroin from a Central Asian country, head of the consular section of
the Russian Embassy in Beijing, Leonid Ignatenko, told Itar-Tass on
Thursday, July 7.
Thus the total number of Russians sentenced in China for drug related
crimes has reached six. Earlier, four Russian females were detained and
sentenced in the Yunnan Province in different times. The oldest of them
was born in 1951. Later on, all of them were moved to a prison in
North-Eastern China, which is located at the territory bordering Russia.
Another man had 1.9 kilograms of heroin as he was arrested. He remains in
Beijing's prison.
In 2005, a death sentence to Elena Timchenko, who had been arrested in
2001 at the Kunming airport /Yunnan Province/ for the attempt to smuggle
over one kilogram of heroin, was changed for life imprisonment. The court
explained the decision by her good behaviour in the prison and by her good
labour discipline. The Chinese side does not rule out it may ease the
punishment further if the Russian citizen continues to behave herself.
There was information that in prison Timchenko sewed uniforms and clothes
for children, she also attends classes in the Chinese language at the
prison's school.
This time, a Russian citizen was detained red-handed at the Urumqui
airport. Last November a trial took place in Urumqui, administrative
centre of the Xinjiang Uyghure Autonomous Region. Now the sentence is
confirmed by China's court of the highest instance and it is considered to
come into force. Staff of Russia's consular section had a meeting with the
sentenced, Ignatenko said. Another meeting is due before he is sent to
prison.
According to Chinese legislation, a death penalty with delayed
execution may be changed for life or long-term imprisonment should the
sentenced realize deeply the guilt and behave perfectly. In China, a
suspect having 50 or more grams of strong drugs may be sentenced to death.