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That should not fix relations between Ottawa and Beijing. Already sentenced to 15 years in prison for drug trafficking, the Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg was sentenced on Monday to death and confiscation of his property by a court in northeastern China. The ruling comes in a tense environment between the two countries following the arrest of Huawei's chief financial officer in Vancouver at the end of last year.
With our correspondent in Beijing
Black dress, eyes on the sentence she holds with both hands in front of her, the judge of the Dalian Intermediate Court " rejects the explanations of the defense (and) condemns the accused to capital punishment " in these images broadcast by the central television of China. Robert Llyod Schellenberg is standing too. He nods when asked if he understands the verdict.
Acceleration of the procedure
Accused of playing a "key role" in an "international gang" that has prepared the shipping of 222 kilograms of methamphetamine in Australia, concealed in rubber tires, it seems sounded by the acceleration by the procedure.
Arrested in 2014, it took the Chinese authorities two years to bring the 36-year-old Canadian to his first trial. Two more years to convict him at first instance while the latter continues to plead his innocence, repeating on Monday to have come to China in " simple tourist ".
His appeal, dismissed just two weeks ago, now leads to a new conviction, in a one-day trial, and in the presence of foreign diplomats and, even more rarely, of three foreign journalists including a colleague from AFP.
Diplomacy of handcuffs
For many Western observers, the case would have become political. The Liaoning province where the verdict was pronounced is also the one where one of the two Canadians - Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig - was arrested on suspicion of a threat to the security of the Chinese state on December 10th.
Whatever Mr. Schellenberg's wrongs, " he became a pawn, " told the New York Times spokesman for his family in Maryland. When others on the Chinese networks find that the Canadian would have benefited from leniency in his first trial, underlining the severity of the Chinese justice regarding drug trafficking.
In this diplomacy of handcuffs between Beijing and Washington, thirteen Canadians have already been arrested in China. Robert Lloyd now has ten days to appeal. The dismissal of the trial giving the opportunity to Beijing to hang up a sword of Damocles on this Canadian national, and that for as long as necessary.
► Eva Dou is one of three journalists allowed to attend Robert Llyod Schellenberg's trial.
Canadian Robert Schellenberg stood in his face as a young man in a sweatshirt. The same court was sentenced to 15 yrs in prison just two months ago on nearly the same evidence. https://t.co/0cppPaKvUx
Eva Dou (@evadou) January 14, 2019