A Canadian citizen convicted of drug smuggling in China faces the possibility of harsher punishment, including the death penalty, after a Chinese court agreed with prosecutors that his initial 15-year sentence was too lenient.
The decision threatens to heighten tensions between Beijing and Ottawa after Canada’s arrest of a senior Chinese telecom executive, whom the US is seeking for extradition.
Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, a Canadian citizen, was arrested in 2014 and tried in 2016 but only sentenced in November. His original trial received no publicity, but China’s cabinet-level news department, in an unusual move, invited some foreign media to attend the appeal hearing at the weekend in the port city of Dalian in north-east China’s Liaoning province.
The court rejected Mr Schellenberg’s appeal, while accepting prosecutors’ claims that new evidence revealed he had a larger role in a failed smuggling plot than originally indicated at his initial trial.
“It was wrong for the court at first trial to regard Schellenberg as an accessory in an unsuccessful crime and impose a light sentence,” prosecutors argued, according to China’s official court news service.
Since Canada’s arrest of Huawei Technologies chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, China has arrested several Canadian citizens, including former diplomat Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, an expert on North Korea.
China released a third Canadian, teacher Sarah McIver, in recent days. Authorities in both countries said her case was different from the other two, which are widely seen as retaliation. Beijing has said Ms Meng’s arrest “seriously violated” her human rights.
Experts said it is not clear the extent to which the Meng incident influenced Mr Schellenberg’s case but noted that the case was unusual and will add to pressure on Ottawa.
Don Clarke, a Chinese law expert at George Washington University, estimated that only 2 per cent of all criminal appeals were sent back for retrial in 2017.
“This is a clever move on the part of (China). Ostensibly the case has no relation to the Canadian extradition arrest. Yet it just happens to add to the pressure on Canada, leaving it open to (China) to impose the death penalty . . . at any time that might suit Beijing over the next few months or even years,” said Jerome Cohen, a scholar of Chinese law at New York University.
Mr Cohen said that Mr Schellenberg’s case appeared unusual even before Ms Meng’s arrest, due to the unusual length of time between Mr Schellenberg’s trial in 2016 and his sentencing in November.
“This usually only happens when there is immense behind the scenes lobbying over the inadequacy of the evidence and/or the diplomatic pressure brought by the foreigner’s government,” he said.
The substance of the allegations against Mr Schellenberg have not been publicly disclosed, but the Wall Street Journal reported that statements during the hearing indicated he was convicted of attempting to conceal 222kg of methamphetamine inside tires and smuggle it from Dalian to Australia. The Financial Times was refused permission to attend the hearing.
Those convicted of manufacturing or smuggling at least 1kg of opium or 50 grams of either heroin or methylaniline face penalties of 15 years to life in prison or the death penalty, according to article 347 of China’s criminal code.
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde