Chinese national Yang Fenglan, 69, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison in Tanzania for her role in the illegal ivory trade.
A Dar es Salaam court on Tuesday convicted her for trafficking 706 elephant tusks worth $2.5 million between 2000 and 2014. Two Tanzanian men, Salvius Matembo and Philemon Manase, were convicted along with Fenglan.
The Chinese national was charged with leading one of Africa's biggest ivory smuggling rings, which smuggled ivory between Tanzania and Asia, and was responsible for the slaughter of hundreds of elephants.
"The prosecution proved the case against the accused beyond a reasonable doubt," Judge Huruma Shaidi told the court.
Fenglan was arrested in 2015 when she was vice president of the China-Africa Business Council of Tanzania.
Poaching has seen the population of African elephants fall by 110 000 over the past decade to just 415 000 animals, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Asia’s demand for ivory in jewellery and ornamentation has fuelled the ongoing slaughter of elephants.
Hailing the court’s verdict, wildlife campaigners called it one of the most significant cases in a number of years.
- African News Agency (ANA)
