Apparently, China doesn’t play around with alleged thieves. According to reports, LiAngelo Ball and his UCLA teammates are facing 3-10 years in prison under strict Chinese law.
Here’s a report:
If standard practices are applied, the three UCLA basketball players – including LiAngelo Ball – arrested Tuesday in mainland China under suspicion of shoplifting face between three and 10 years in prison if convicted, according to Chinese lawyers who briefed Yahoo Sports on the applicable laws. The sentencing guidelines could shift depending on the amount that the Chinese could prove was allegedly stolen.
Authorities believe the players shoplifted from a Louis Vuitton store near the UCLA team hotel outside of Shanghai. The Bruins are in China to play Georgia Tech on Saturday in the season opener. The players were arrested Tuesday after local law enforcement came to the team hotel and questioned both UCLA and Georgia Tech players before taking the three away. ESPN first reported the arrests.
What they face now bears little resemblance to the legal system of the United States. The three men could be detained for more than a month without American-style bail before local prosecutors even decide whether to press charges, according to William Nee, a Hong Kong-based researcher of the Chinese court system for Amnesty International.
Nee said it is not uncommon for a defendant to wait 30-37 days before being officially indicted. Among those indicted, Chinese prosecutors enjoy a 99.2 percent conviction rate, according to Nee’s research.
