China sentences Canadian man to death in drug smuggling case
Robert Lloyd Schellenberg was detained in 2014 and initially sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2016
OTTAWA—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he’s very concerned to see China “acting arbitrarily” by applying the death penalty to a Canadian convicted of drug trafficking.
He says Canada will do all it can to intervene on Robert Lloyd Schellenberg’s behalf.
A court in Dalian in northeastern Liaoning province announced Monday evening that it had given Schellenberg the death penalty after reconsidering his case.
The sentence comes after China detained two Canadians in December in apparent retaliation for Canada’s arrest of a Chinese technology executive.
Schellenberg was detained in 2014 and initially sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2016 on charges of being an accessory to drug smuggling.
Canada detained Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, on Dec. 1 at the request of the United States, raising tensions between Canada and China.
