A court in southern
China sentenced an elderly former Japanese politician to life in
prison Friday for smuggling drugs in shoes packed inside a suitcase he was trying to take to his home country.
A man from Mali was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve and a Guinean received a life sentence for packing and delivering the suitcase, according to the Guangzhou City First Intermediate Court.
Takuma Sakuragi, 76, pleaded not guilty and plans to appeal, said his Guangzhou-based lawyer, Chen Weixiong, who argued there was insufficient evidence to prove Sakuragi was knowingly carrying the drugs.