China: Canadian sentenced to death on appeal for drug trafficking

The death sentence of Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg for drug trafficking has been confirmed.

HANDOUT Intermediate Peoples' Court of Dalian / AFP / File

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The death sentence of Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg for drug trafficking was confirmed this morning by Chinese justice.

This case is one of many court cases that have soured relations between Beijing and Ottawa.

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From our correspondent in Beijing

Zhifan Liu

The Dalian Court of Justice, in the east of the country, therefore confirmed the death sentence imposed in January 2019 on Robert Lloyd Schellenberg.

The Canadian was initially arrested in 2014 on charges of smuggling more than 220 kg of methamphetamine.

Schellenberg, already convicted of drug trafficking in Canada, has always denied the facts and claimed to be in China for tourism.

Sentenced in the first place to 15 years in prison in November 2018, the Canadian appealed in January 2019, but the Chinese justice toughened his sentence by condemning him to the death penalty.

Two other cases fuel China / Canada tensions

The announcement comes as a Chinese national is on trial in Canada.

This is

Meng Wanzhou

, chief financial officer of Huawei and daughter of the founder of the Chinese telecommunications giant.

Canadian authorities arrested Ms. Meng in Vancouver at the behest of her American neighbor on suspicion of bank fraud.

A few days later, China proceeded on its soil to the arrest of two Canadians: the ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig and the businessman Michael Spavor.

Two arrests

seen as a retaliatory measure taken by the communist regime.

Chinese justice should announce tomorrow its verdict on Michael Spavor, tried for espionage last spring and detained since December 2018.

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