Canadian sentenced to death in China
TORONTO (AP) — A Chinese court sentenced a Canadian to death in a sudden retrial of his drug smuggling case, while another Canadian man has been denied diplomatic immunity, ratcheting up the tensions following Canada’s arrest of a top Chinese technology executive last month.
The Liaoning provincial court in northeastern China announced the death sentence for Robert Lloyd Schellenberg on Monday, reversing a 15-year prison term from a November 2018 sentencing. Schellenberg first went on trial in 2016.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau strongly condemned Monday’s proceeding.
Further escalating the diplomatic rift between the two countries, a Chinese spokeswoman said earlier Monday that Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat taken into custody in apparent retaliation for Meng’s arrest, was not eligible for diplomatic immunity as Trudeau has maintained.
A senior Canadian government official said Chinese officials have been questioning Kovrig about his diplomatic work in China, which is a major reason why Trudeau is asserting diplomatic immunity.
The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly about the case, spoke on condition of anonymity.
Kovrig, a Northeast Asia analyst for the International Crisis Group think tank, was on a leave of absence from the Canadian government at the time of his arrest last month.