CNTV -KUNMING – Myanmar drug lord Naw Kham and three of his accomplices, all of whom wereconvicted of murdering 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong River in 2011, will be executed bylethal injection on March 1 in the city of Kunming in Southwest China’s Yunnan province, acourt in Kunming said Wednesday.
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he court upheld death penalties for the case’s prime convicts – the Myanmar drug lord NawKham and three of his right-hand men.
The Provincial Higher People’s Court of Yunnan also sustained sentences for the two otherMyanmar convicts, known by their Chinese names Zha Bo and Zha Tuobo. They were handeda death sentence with two-year reprieve and eight years in prison, respectively.
The six were convicted of intentional homicide, drug trafficking, kidnapping and hijacking by alocal court in Kunming, capital of Yunnan, in November.
Nicknamed “The Godfather,” Naw Kham was the boss of the largest illegal armed drugtrafficking 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 reinin rampant crime in the border region.
Naw Kham’s gang was found to have colluded with Thai soldiers and to have organized anattack on two Chinese cargo ships in October last year, gunning down 13 Chinese sailors andtrafficking drugs. The gang was also involved in another kidnapping-for-ransom case targetingChinese citizens on the Mekong in April last year, according to the court.
All six appealed their sentences after the trial in November. Naw Kham’s lawyer pleaded for areduced sentence on the grounds that his client was ordered to pay 6 million yuan ($953,895)in compensation to the victims’ families.
The provincial higher court heard the appeals on December 20. In the verdict releasedWednesday, the court said the appeals were rejected due to the “severe outcome” of thecrimes.
The death penalties for Naw Kham and three of his subordinates will be submitted to theSupreme People’s Court in Beijing for review prior to the executions, the court said.
Legal experts said the trial shows China is capable of protecting its citizens and any criminalviolation against its people will be subject to punishment in accordance with the law.
“I believe the death penalty for Naw Kham is appropriate, or my brother and sister-in-law willnot rest in peace,” He Xilun, the younger brother of slain sailor He Xixing, told Xinhua in aninterview in November.
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