Yahoo! News - Man Asks for Shorter Jail Term, Gets Longer Instead: "Thu Aug 21, 8:21 AM ET
HANOI (Reuters) - A Frenchman who appealed against a 20-year jail conviction for trafficking heroin, had his sentenced lengthened to life in prison instead, a Vietnamese court official said on Thursday.
Andro Stephane Michel Auguste, 34, lost his appeal on Wednesday at the People's Supreme Court of Appeal in Ho Chi Minh City, a court official told Reuters.
He declined to say why the sentence has been extended.
The decision by the appeal court in the communist country is rare. Usually the court upholds or reduces the sentence from a lower court.
Auguste was found guilty in May and sentenced to 20 years in jail after being arrested with 317.7 grams (0.7 lb) of heroin in October 2002 while in transit from Thailand to Paris at the city's Tan Son Nhat Airport.
Smuggling 600 grams (1.32 lb) of heroin is punishable by death by firing squad or life imprisonment in Vietnam. "
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