China upholds Canadian death sentence for drug trafficking

A court in China on Tuesday upheld the death sentence of Canadian citizen Robert Lloyd Schellenberg for drug trafficking. Schellenberg had been sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2018 for bringing 222 kilograms of methamphetamine into the country in 2014. During the re-trial claimed by the defendant, the Prosecutor's Office has brought new evidence that has raised the sentence to the death penalty, under accusation of belonging to an international drug trafficking network. The defendant has filed an appeal that has been rejected by the Liaoning High People's Court, which upheld the death penalty and sent the decision to the Supreme Court for final confirmation, according to the Chinese daily

The ratification comes as, in Canada, lawyers for the vice president of Huawei and daughter of the founder of this telecommunications giant, Meng Wanzhou, make a last effort to convince the court not to extradite her to the United States, where she faces charges related to the violation of sanctions against Iran. Meng was arrested at Vancouver International Airport, in December 2018, on a US warrant, accused of misleading HSBC Holdings PLC about Huawei's business in Iran, which could cause the bank to violate US economic sanctions. . His arrest occurred a month before Schellenberg was sentenced to death.The executive resides on bail in one of her mansions in Vancouver pending the resolution of the extradition request requested by the United States.

More information

• The arrest of the vice president of Huawei rekindles the tension between the US and China

• China sentences Canadian man to death for drug trafficking

In addition to Schellenberg, two other Canadians are detained in China: Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig, who worked for the

International Crisis Group.

Both face charges of espionage for allegedly endangering the security of the Chinese state.

The two have been detained days after Meng's arrest, after China threatened Canada with "serious consequences" for the arrest of the Huawei executive that the country considers to have been carried out for political reasons.

The Canadian ambassador to China, Dominic Barton, said, according to Reuters, that a court in the city of Dandong (northeast China) must pronounce the verdict of Spavor this Wednesday.

If convicted, Spavor and Kovrig could face a minimum of 10 years in prison, in a country where courts convict defendants 99% of the time.

"It is not a coincidence that this is happening right now, while the [Meng] case is going on in Vancouver," Barton added.

China denies any connection between Meng's case and the trials against Canadian citizens on Chinese soil.

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