Shooting gallery owner wins appeal over gun sentence

The owner of a carnival balloon-shooting gallery in Tianjin who was jailed for more than three years on firearm charges has been freed on appeal.

Zhao Chunhua, 51, was prosecuted on Dec 27 for illegal possession of guns, to which she pleaded guilty. However, the sentence she received led to a public outcry, with many arguing that it was too tough.

On Thursday, an appeal hearing at Tianjin No 1 Intermediate People's Court reduced the punishment to three years in prison suspended for three years, which meant Zhao was released from custody.