5 Spared Sect Members Sentenced to Prison
From Times Wire Reports
Five leaders of an underground Protestant sect, spared execution by a Chinese court, received sentences of up to life in prison after a rare retrial on criminal charges, a human rights group said.
The unusual death-penalty reprieve comes just two weeks before Chinese President Jiang Zemin is to visit President Bush.
The trial included charges of rape and battery that rights activists have said were unsupported by evidence.
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