VANCOUVER—A death sentence was handed down Monday to Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, 36, after a one-day trial in a Chinese court on charges of drug trafficking.

The sentence, announced by a court in Dalian in northeastern Liaoning province, overturned a 15-year prison sentence issued following an earlier trial that began in 2016. Schellenberg was accused of being involved with an operation that sought to smuggle 222 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine in tires and tubing from China to Australia.

When his initial prison term was handed down in November 2018, Schellenberg appealed the sentence.

Chinese courts swiftly ordered a review of Schellenberg’s case in late December. Prosecutors claimed they had new evidence proving he’d played a key role in the smuggling operation. The court allowed foreign media to attend the retrial — an unusual move — but did not allow journalists to take notes or make recordings.

Chinese state television reported Schellenberg argued in court he’d been framed during a visit to China as a tourist. The retrial ended with his death sentence.


Some experts and academics fear the stiffened sentence is part of a bid by Beijing to force the release of Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 1 at the request of authorities in the United States.

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Meng is currently out on bail in Vancouver, awaiting a possible extradition hearing to face fraud charges related to violations of U.S. trade sanctions against Iran.

Last updated: Jan. 16, 2019



Schellenberg has a chance to appeal: Schellenberg, originally from Abbotsford, B.C., was initially detained in 2014.

According to his lawyer, Zhang Dongshuo, Schellenberg has 10 days to contest the latest sentence.

Zhang told The Associated Press he argued during the trial there was insufficient evidence to prove Schellenberg’s involvement in the drug-smuggling operation, nor had prosecutors introduced new evidence to justify a heavier sentence.

Ottawa is protesting the sentence: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday the development in Schellenberg’s case is “of extreme concern” to the Canadian government, as it should be to all of Canada’s “friends and allies.”

In the same address, Trudeau said China is “acting arbitrarily” in applying this sentence.

Beijing has condemned Trudeau’s criticism of the death sentence handed down to Schellenberg, expressing “strong dissatisfaction” with Trudeau’s characterization of the sentence as arbitrary and admonishing him to “respect the rule of law, respect China’s judicial sovereignty, correct mistakes and stop making irresponsible remarks.”

Canada intercedes on behalf of any Canadian sentenced to death in a foreign country.

Schellenberg’s family is devastated: His aunt, Lauri Nelson-Jones, said in an email to StarMetro on Monday: “All I can really say at this moment is, it is our worst-case fear confirmed. Our thoughts are with Robert at this time.


Schellenberg’s family is in touch with Canadian MP Ed Fast, they said in another short statement. They said Fast is “working hard on our behalf to ensure that the Trudeau government makes every effort to secure fair treatment for Robert.”

Schellenberg has a criminal record in Canada: According to online court records, he was sentenced to a year in prison in February 2010 and two years probation on three counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking. In August 2011, Schellenberg was charged with two counts of simple possession and two more counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking.

The 2011 case was sent to trial in B.C. Supreme Court, and in 2012, Schellenberg was convicted on all four counts, receiving a sentence of two years in prison. Minus time served in pretrial custody, that sentence came to just over 16 months in prison.

This could be “death-threat diplomacy,” expert says: Some human-rights and foreign-policy experts believe the harsher sentence may be an attempt to strong-arm Canada into reconsidering its own detention of star Chinese tech executive Meng Wanzhou.

Various Chinese government officials have called Canada’s detention of Meng “groundless” and “illegal” and have accused Canada of “Western egotism and white supremacy” for its criticism of Beijing.

Donald Clarke, a law professor at George Washington University, called Schellenberg’s sentence “death-threat diplomacy,” while Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth called the development an example of “hostage politics.”

These characterizations follow similar concerns regarding the detentions of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor — an ex-diplomat and an entrepreneur, respectively — who were detained in China following Meng’s arrest.

The rare permission given foreign journalists and diplomats to attend Schellenberg’s retrial buoys the perception Beijing wished to make the sentence an international issue, according to Phil Calvert, a senior research fellow at the Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives at the University of Victoria. Calvert served for 10 years as a diplomat in China and as Canada’s ambassador to Thailand, Cambodia and Laos from 2012 to 2016.

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The death penalty is common in China: The country executes more people each year than all other countries around the world combined, according to a statement from Amnesty International.

John Kamm, head of Dui Hua, a San Francisco-based non-governmental group that advocates for political prisoners in China, said in an interview that his organization is aware of 19 foreigners — no North Americans among them — who have been executed by China from 2009 to the present.

However, according to Guy Saint-Jacques, former Canadian ambassador to China from 2012-2016, China dismissed clemency pleas by former prime minister Stephen Harper and former governor general David Johnston in the cases of two Canadians who were later executed.

Global Affairs says about 200 Canadians are currently detained in China “for a variety of infractions and continue to face legal proceedings. Many of these Canadians are out on bail or serving probation,” while a handful are in custody.

Canada has updated its travel advisory: In its first update since tensions between the two countries began last month, Canada changed its travel advisory Monday for Canadian citizens visiting China.

The Global Affairs website now warns “a high degree of caution” must be exercised while travelling in China “due to the risk of arbitrary enforcement of local laws.” It now cautions that “Chinese authorities apply, sometimes arbitrarily, the death penalty for both violent and non-violent crimes.”

Canada’s embassy in Beijing emailed Canadians registered in the country Monday, warning them to remain aware of these new risks and asking them to update the embassy if they leave China.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s office of consular affairs, meanwhile, issued its own warning Tuesday to Chinese citizens, cautioning them to “fully assess the risks of going to Canada for tourism” since Canada has “arbitrarily detained” a Chinese national — a reference to the arrest of Meng Wanzhou.


How often Chinese courts commute a death sentence, and how rapidly the sentence would be carried out if upheld: Margaret Lewis, professor at Seton Hall University School of Law, said Schellenberg can first appeal to the provincial high court in Liaoning, which is expected to uphold the sentence.

The case would then go to the Supreme People’s Court (SPC), the highest court in China, which retook final review power over all death penalty cases in 2007. If the SPC upholds the case, an execution order would be sent to the lower court, Lewis said. Thereafter, the sentence could be carried out fairly quickly — an outcome Beijing may pursue as a way to pressure Canada for the release of Meng, she added.

But the SPC could also decide to modify the sentence, and there is also room for the government to slow down the pace of the proceedings.

“If the sentence is altered, one possibility is a suspended death sentence, which is usually commuted to a long prison term after two years of good behaviour,” Lewis told The Star in an email. “This would be harsher than the original 15-year sentence but certainly not as dire as the current death sentence.”

How closely Schellenberg’s sentence is related to Canada’s detention of Meng Wanzhou: While there are some unusual aspects to Schellenberg’s case, a death sentence for a conviction related to drug charges is not one of them, Lewis said.

“China takes drug smuggling very seriously, and quantities of meth that are far smaller than the 222 kilograms allegedly at issue here can lead to a death sentence,” she said, adding that while Schellenberg’s role in the smuggling operation appears to be in dispute, no one seems to be disputing the existence of the drugs.

“Accordingly … aside from the defendant’s foreign nationality triggering certain consular assistance requirements, this seemed (initially to be) an unremarkable drug case.”

On the other hand, the “rapid-fire pace” of court proceedings from appeal to retrial does raise some red flags, Lewis said. Most often, a retrial occurs when courts have learned of new evidence that suggests a lighter sentence is warranted. The court’s decision to send the case from appeal back to retrial is therefore unusual, given the government’s clear intent to seek — after four years of investigation and trial — harsher punishment for what it suddenly alleged was Schellenberg’s key role in the smuggling operation.

The government’s decision to allow foreign media coverage likewise points toward political motives, Lewis said.

“Why the shift to alleging Schellenberg as a key participant?” Lewis asked. “Why the rapid pace of the proceedings, including the almost immediate decision on appeal and same-day announcement of the new, much harsher sentence? Why the push for international attention? It’s not a long inferential bridge to the conclusion that the case has become intertwined in the China-Canada diplomatic row.”

With files from Tonda MacCharles and The Canadian Press