Schellenberg smuggling incident information

The Schellenberg smuggling incident is a case in which Canadian citizen Robert Lloyd Schellenberg was tried and convicted to capital punishment on charges of smuggling drugs in the People's Republic of China, which Canada "condemned in the strongest possible terms".

According to the prosecutors for the state, Schellenberg attempted to smuggle methamphetamine with a net weight of just over 222 kg (489 lb) from Dalian to Australia in November 2014; after discovering that his translator had informed the police, he allegedly boarded a plane at Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport with the intention of fleeing to Thailand. Schellenberg was arrested by Chinese police when the plane had a stopover at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. Schellenberg argued that he was framed by drug dealer Xu Qing and that he was an innocent tourist. On November 20, 2018, the Dalian Intermediate People's Court sentenced Schellenberg to 15 years in prison for drug smuggling, confiscation of 150,000 yuan in personal property, as well as deportation. Schellenberg appealed the verdict. The following December 29, the Liaoning Provincial High People's Court retried him. During the trial, the state prosecutor claimed Schellenberg was an accessory criminal. At the retrial, it was claimed he played an "important role". Despite the crime not succeeding, a light punishment was rejected. The High Court of Liaoning Province ruled in court to send the case back to Dalian Intermediate People's Court for retrial. On January 14, 2019, the Dalian Intermediate People's Court opened a retrial to review the case, sentencing Schellenberg to death and confiscation of all property.^[1] After the retrial, Schellenberg's defense team stated that it would appeal.^[2]

The Schellenberg case has caused controversy in law and diplomacy. Chinese law stipulates that if the defendant appealed and the retrial court returned the case for review, the original trial court shall not increase the criminal's sentence unless there are new criminal facts and additional prosecutions by the People's Procuratorate, which is the so-called "no additional sentence for appeal" rule. According to Article 347 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, 15 years of imprisonment, life imprisonment, or the death penalty are appropriate sentences for smuggling over 50 g (with Schellenberg smuggling 222 kg).^[1][3]

Schellenberg's defense lawyer Zhang Dongshuo and others argued that the Dalian Intermediate People's Court's decision violated the rule of "no additional sentence on appeal".^[4] Chinese official media and some Chinese jurists believe that the judgment of the Dalian Intermediate People's Court is in line with relevant laws, as they argued that there was additional evidence and hence the rule no longer applies. In addition, some questioned the case's evidence and trial procedures.

Prior to the retrial, on December 1, 2018, at the request of the United States, Canada arrested the vice chairman of Huawei, Meng Wanzhou, causing friction in Canada–China relations. China later arrested two Canadian citizens for jeopardising national security. Some sources believe that China has been pressuring Canada through Schellenberg, as well as that the previous "hostage diplomacy" has been upgraded to "criminal diplomacy."