PHOTOS: Russian Drug Mule Escapes Indonesian Death Penalty

 An Indonesian court has shown leniancy and avoided sentencing a Russian woman to death despite being caught smuggling drugs.

The woman, 26 year-old Aleksandra Magnaeva, was convicted of smuggling  2.1 kilogrammes (4.6 pounds) of crystal methamphetamine and sentenced to just  16.5 years in jail.

This comes two weeks after indonesia executed four Nigerian men over drug related offences.

Aleksandra was caught in December, she flew into Bali on a flight from Hong Kong with the drugs tashed in her bags.

 “If uncaught, the defendant’s action could have endangered thousands of Indonesian youths,” judge Wayan Sukanila told the Denpasar District Court, adding the sentence was more lenient because she had shown remorse for her crimes.

In Indonesia, the maximum penalty for drug trafficking is death, Magnaeva had blamed her boyfriend and said he told her to pass the drugs to someone in Bali.

She said that she got the drugs from mainland China to Hong Kong, and claimed it was her first time smuggling drugs into Bali.

Foreigners are frequently arrested for attempting to smuggle narcotics into the resort island of Bali, and some have been handed the death sentence.

The executed Nigerians alongside two Australians and a Brazilian had begged for amnesty but were ignored by the Indonesian court.