ST. PETERSBURG, May 12 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) – Chinese citizen Liu Limay has appealed her 3-year prison sentence for stealing a brilliant worth 6 million rubles ($106,000) from a jewellery exhibition, RAPSI learnt on Friday from the united press service of St. Petersburg courts.

Liu Limay seeks to change the sentence to one not involving incarceration.

The Chinese citizen was sentenced on April 28. The woman pleaded guilty and paid full damages to an injured party.

Prosecutor demanded a 3.5-year prison term for Liu Limay while her defense and victim in the case asked the court to fine her.

According to case papers, on February 1, the brilliant weighing 3.1 carat was stolen from the International Jewellery Exhibition JUNWEX held in St. Petersburg.

Investigators claim the jewel was stolen by three Chinese nationals specializing in such thefts. Liu Limay allegedly replaced the brilliant with a fake and gave it to her accomplice, who hid the jewel in his mouth. Initially, police officers suspected that the he had swallowed the brilliant. Later, Liu Limay confessed that they had given the brilliant to a third accomplice, who took it away and left for China. According to police, that woman has been arrested in Hong Kong.