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A Chinese court sentenced the death penalty to a Canadian accused of drug trafficking, after a new trial, in a decision that takes place in the middle of a diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Ottawa, started on December 1 with the arrest in Canada of the financial director of the Chinese company Huawei, Meng Wanzhou.
Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, 36, sentenced in first instance to 15 years in prison, declared his innocence during the trial.
Schellenberg was arrested after participating in 2014 in an attempt to send 222 kilograms of hidden amphetamines in tires from China to Australia, according to the official Chinese Xinhua agency.
The Canadian was tried initially in 2016. He was then convicted in the first instance in November to 15 years in prison and to pay a fine of 150,000 yuan (about 19,000 euros), but Schellenberg appealed.
However, this initiative turned against him, since the Supreme Court of the province of Liaoning (north-east) considered the verdict too "lenient" due to the seriousness of the facts accused and at the end of December it was decided to repeat the process.
"I'm not a drug dealer, I came to China for sightseeing," Schellenberg said Monday after the trial.
I'm not a drug dealer, I came to China to do tourism
In 2012, Schellenberg, 36, was sentenced to two years in prison in Canada for drug trafficking, and his criminal history dates back to 2003, when he was sentenced to six months in prison for possession of drugs to traffic, according to the Issuer Canadian public CBC.
Schellenberg has the right to appeal to the Higher People's Court After 10 days notice the sentence, the intermediate court has added a statement.
Reactions on the verdict
The Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, pronounced himself before the sentence, which he called "arbitrary"
"It is very disturbing for us as a government, as it should be for all our friends and international allies, who China has arbitrarily decided to apply the death penalty in cases like this, of a Canadian"Trudeau said.
In response to his statement, China denounced that the statements of the Canadian prime minister were "irresponsible".
"We urge the Canadian side to respect the rule of law, respect the judicial sovereignty of China, correct its mistakes"Hua Chunying, spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters.
The Canadian government has invited Canadians to China to exercise "great caution" in the face of "the risk of arbitrary application of local laws", while the Chinese government has issued a security warning for citizens wishing to travel to Canada because of the risk to "be arbitrarily detained at the request of a third country".
INTERNATIONAL DRAWING
* With information from AFP, Efe and Reuters
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