Nairobi, Dec 2 (AP) A high court in Tanzania on Friday sentenced 11 people to death for the murder of a conservationist in the East African country more than five years ago.

Anti-poaching activist Wayne Lotter, a South African national, was shot dead in August 2017 while riding in a taxi in Tanzania's commercial capital of Dar es Salaam.

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Those sentenced to death include nine Tanzanians and two citizens of neighbouring Burundi.

Tanzania hasn't carried out an execution in decades.

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Lotter was the director and co-founder of the PALMS Foundation, a nongovernmental organisation which said he had helped to train thousands of game scouts throughout Tanzania and developed an “intelligence-based approach” to anti-poaching that had success in countering wildlife trafficking.

Poachers in Tanzania target various wildlife, including elephants that are often killed for their tusks. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)