Uzbek man given life imprisonment for robbery and Uzbek man given life imprisonment for robbery and murder

CHANGWON, South Korea, Nov. 6 (Yonhap) -- An Uzbek man was sentenced to life in
prison by a South Korean court Friday for killing a taxi driver during a robbery
in March.
Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for the 20-year-old, whose identity was
withheld, for stabbing the 59-year-old taxi driver to death in his car and
snatching 150,000 won (US$128) in Changwon, 398km south of Seoul.
Four months later, he robbed another cab driver in the same city with two other
Uzbek men, the court said.
His accomplices were sentenced to six years in prison for armed robbery, the
court said.
"The court gave a heavy sentence to the accused because he had planned a
life-threatening crime to obtain money and given the brutality of the crime.
Moreover, he tried to cover up the murder and committed another crime four months
later," the Changwon District Court said in the ruling.
Lawyers for the murder suspect had appealed for leniency, arguing he committed
the crime because he ran of money in a foreign country.
ejkim@yna.co.kr
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