20 minutes – Canadian (36 years old) sentenced to death in China

The Dalian City Court annulled its original decision on Monday that the thirty-six-year-old Robert Lloyd Schellenberg should serve a 15-year sentence. "The court rejects the statements and the defense of the person accused in their entirety because they are completely in contradiction with the facts," said the President of the Court.

Canada is lacking in citizens in China

A superior court had criticized the first judgment as too lenient and demanded a higher sentence. Monday's verdict came after a one-day trial attended by several observers.

Reportedly, Schellenberg was arrested in 2014 in Liaoning Province. He has been accused of smuggling drugs on a larger scale and possible involvement in international organized crime. In November, the sentence was 15 years imprisonment and the equivalent of 20,000 francs fine. Schellenberg came after his statement about a friend in contact with a shady man. He was introduced to him as a translator, but he actually entered an international drug trafficking circle.

Feedback for Huawei

The relations between Canada and China are currently strained. Beijing is angry at the arrest of Huawei's head of finance, Meng Wanzhou, in Canada, at the beginning of December. Meanwhile, Meng was released on payment of a security under strict conditions. The procedure for their extradition to the United States is underway. Washington accuses the businessman of violations of Iranian sanctions and calls for their extradition.

Since the trial in Meng, several Canadian citizens have been arrested in China – a former diplomat and a North Korean expert living in China remain in custody. According to Beijing, the two men are suspected of jeopardizing "national security". In China, this is a suspicious spurious.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his "extreme" concern that China "arbitrarily" imposed the death penalty on Schellenberg. According to observers, the arrest of the two Canadians was a retaliation by the Chinese authorities for the arrest of the Chinese leader Meng.

(APT / SDA)