China sentences Canadian man to death in drug smuggling case

A general view of the Intermediate People's Court of Dalian, where the trial for Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, a Canadian citizen on drug smuggling charges, will be held, in Liaoning province, China January 14, 2019. (Reuters)

BEIJING: A Chinese court has sentenced a Canadian man to death in a drug smuggling case.
A court in Dalian in northeastern Liaoning province announced Monday evening that it has given Robert Lloyd Schellenberg the death penalty.
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. But last month an appeals court agreed with prosecutors who said the sentence was too lenient.
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.