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CHINA-CANADA-CRIME-TRIAL-DRUGS
Canadian faces retrial in China drug case next week
BEIJING, Jan 10, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A Canadian man who was sentenced to 15
years in prison for drug smuggling in China will face a retrial on Monday,
which could hand him a harsher sentence and further strain ties between
Beijing and Ottawa.
In a statement posted on its website, the northeastern Dalian Intermediate
People’s Court said Thursday that Robert Lloyd Schellenberg’s new trial is
scheduled for 8:00 am (0000 GMT) on January 14, but gave no further details.
China exercises a zero-tolerance policy towards drug trafficking, and has
handed death sentences to foreigners found guilty of smuggling large
quantities of illicit drugs.
The case comes as Beijing and Ottawa remain embroiled in a diplomatic row
triggered by Canada’s December 1 arrest of a senior executive from Chinese
telecommunications giant Huawei wanted in the United States.
In what observers see as an act of retaliation, China later detained two
Canadians — a former diplomat and a business consultant — on suspicion of
engaging in activities that “endanger” national security.
In a previous ruling in November, Schellenberg was sentenced to 15 years
in prison and a 150,000 yuan ($22,000) forfeiture.
The high court in northeastern Liaoning province, which presided over
Schellenberg’s appeal attempt last December, called the sentencing “obviously
inappropriate” given the severity of his crimes.
Schellenberg played “an important role” in drug smuggling and was
potentially involved in international organised drug trafficking activities,
it said. Other foreigners have been executed for such crimes.
In 2014, a Japanese national sentenced in Dalian city in northeastern
Liaoning province was put to death for drug offences, according to Tokyo
diplomats and media reports.
China also sentenced a Filipina drug trafficker to death in 2013,
according to the Philippine foreign department, ignoring Manila’s request to
spare her life.
BSS/AFP/MR/1210 hrs