UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR BUSINESSMAN

the Sharjah Appeal Court in the United Arab Emirates upheld the death sentence of a Ukrainian man who killed his Syrian business partner in 2002 with a penknife. After a trial which ran for more than two years at the Sharia court and another five years at the Sharjah Appeal Court, the man now has to pay blood money of Dh750,000 to the successors of the deceased to avoid capital punishment. Ukranian Andrei Semenchenko, in his late 30s, requested members of the public and officials to help him raise funds for the blood money.