Convicted flight attendant appeals sentence

A former flight attendant who bought goods overseas to sell in China and got an 11-year sentence in September has appealed to a higher court, the Beijing Youth Daily reported on Monday.

Li Xiaohang, 30, a former stewardess, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for buying makeup products from duty-free shops in South Korea and bringing the items through customs as personal belongings numerous times with another two partners between 2010 and August 2011, a verdict provided by the Beijing No 2 Intermediate People's Court said.

The court said that the woman evaded 1.13 million yuan ($178,000) in taxes, adding that the import duty on makeup is high in the country. In addition to the sentence, Li was also fined 500,000 yuan.

The three people have now appealed to the capital's High People's Court, the report said.

Li confessed the facts, but said she never intended to evade the taxes, because she did not know that the cosmetics must pay taxes.

Li's partners, 31-year-old Chu Ziqiao and 40-year-old Shi Haidong, were mainly responsible for selling the products on their online shops on Taobao, China's largest online shopping service, the lower court said.

Chu was sentenced to seven years in jail and Shi to five years.