You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
China-Japan-Koreas
Appeal backfired - China upgrades Lloyd Schellenberg drug sentence to organ donor
2019-01-15
[BBC] Robert Lloyd Schellenberg was given a 15-year jail term in November but, on Monday, a court said the sentence for drug smuggling was too lenient.

The ruling is likely to worsen a diplomatic row between the countries.

"It is a horrific, unfortunate, heartbreaking situation," his aunt, Lauri Nelson-Jones, told the BBC via email.

"It is our worst case fear confirmed," she added. "It is rather unimaginable what he must be feeling and thinking."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the ruling.

"It is of extreme concern to us as a government, as it should be to all our international friends and allies, that China has chosen to begin to arbitrarily apply the death penalty," he said in a statement.
Posted by:Besoeker

#9  ZF, thanks for the asterisks. And I still almost missed it.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220   2019-01-15 23:46  

#8  I don't doubt the Chinese justice system is messed up from a Western point of view, but this guy isn't the first Canadian to have legal problems in China since the Canadians arrested Meng Wanzhou back in December. Once is an accident, twice co-incidence and all that.

This MOT was first sentenced in November, before the Huawei case. Appeals in China are really, really Mickey Mouse affairs, which is why it was conducted just 2 months after initial sentencing. This moron drew the short straw. It would be nice to see this sleazy Huawei c-word get the needle, but even if we handed down death sentences for economic crimes, which we don't, the Canadians would not extradite a suspect in a case where the death penalty might be handed down without DOJ assurances that it would not be imposed.
Posted by: Hupaick Henbane5752   2019-01-15 23:46  

#7  I don't doubt the Chinese justice system is messed up from a Western point of view, but this guy isn't the first Canadian to have legal problems in China since the Canadians arrested Meng Wanzhou back in December. Once is an accident, twice co-incidence and all that.
Posted by: SteveS   2019-01-15 22:19  

#6  Nothing to do with drug smuggling. It's all about China showing who the big dog is after Canada snatched up that chick from Huwei for the Americans.

The *draconian* appeals process is another reason why the rate of wrongful convictions there is probably extremely high. An appeal carries with it the potential for a penal sentence to be converted to a death sentence, potentially carried out within a year. Given the wide variety of non-homicide-related offenses in China that are eligible for the death penalty, it's a wonder that anything other than a death sentence is ever appealed. When government officials are demi-gods, this is the kind of justice system they get.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2019-01-15 18:48  

#5  Nothing to do with drug smuggling. It's all about China showing who the big dog is after Canada snatched up that chick from Huwei for the Americans.

Not really. That would involve ramping up tariffs on Canadian exports to China. This is a fairly routine drug sentence appeal that went against the defendant, as appeals often do in China. What's not understood is that China's appeals process figuratively resembles Russian r0ulette. You could get a better sentence or even exonerated. Or you could lose your head. In that respect, it is very traditionally Chinese - government appointees are basically demi-gods (as opposed to the living gods who rule China).
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2019-01-15 18:41  

#4  Nothing to do with drug smuggling. It's all about China showing who the big dog is after Canada snatched up that chick from Huwei for the Americans.
Posted by: SteveS   2019-01-15 17:13  

#3  For a member of the tribe, this was either desperate or really, really stupid. Either way, his membership needs to be revoked - it's a disgrace he never thought such an outcome was possible.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2019-01-15 17:04  

#2  But it's OK for China to send their fentanyl to us.
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2019-01-15 15:05  

#1  
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2019-01-15 03:52  

00:00