Smuggling sentence reduced for ex-flight attendant

A former flight attendant has had her prison sentence for smuggling cosmetics reduced to three years from the previous 11, a Beijing court reported on Tuesday.

Li Xiaohang, the former airline stewardess, brought cosmetics from duty-free shops in South Korea through Chinese customs as personal belongings then sold them online, according to an earlier verdict.

Prosecutors said Li evaded tax of 1.13 million yuan ($186,000) between 2010 and 2011, and Beijing No 2 Intermediate People’s Court sentenced her to 11 years for smuggling in July 2012.

Li appealed to Beijing High People’s Court and, in May, the higher authority sent the case back to the intermediate court to retry, citing unclear facts and insufficient evidence.

At Monday’s retrial, the intermediate court reduced Li’s sentence to three years after changing the tax evasion amount to 80,000 yuan.

Li was also fined 40,000 yuan, the court reported.