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China rejects Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg’s appeal against drug smuggling death penalty
- Court upholds ruling of 2019 retrial, which had found the original sentence of 15 years in prison to be too lenient
- Canada’s ambassador to China says the ruling and the trials of Michaels Kovrig and Spavor are linked to the Meng Wanzhou extradition case in Vancouver
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A Chinese court has upheld the death penalty handed to Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, rejecting his appeal against the sentence after he was convicted of drug smuggling in 2018.
The Liaoning Higher People’s Court in northeastern China said on Tuesday that it had rejected the appeal on the basis that Schellenberg’s crime of smuggling methamphetamine constituted a grave danger to society.
China has a zero-tolerance attitude towards drug smuggling and punishes severely those convicted of the crime. However, Schellenberg’s case has added to diplomatic tensions between the Chinese and Canadian governments, with the latter opposing the death penalty and saying the sentencing was “arbitrary”.
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Dominic Barton, Canada’s ambassador to China, said in Liaoning after the court’s ruling that he “condemned in the strongest possible terms” the rejection of Schellenberg’s appeal.
01:19
China sentences Canadian to death for drug smuggling
China sentences Canadian to death for drug smuggling
“We remain deeply concerned by China’s arbitrary use of the death penalty for Robert Schellenberg,” Barton said, adding that his country would continue to provide consular assistance.
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