Robert Lloyd Schellenberg has been sentenced to death by China. (Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Robert Lloyd Schellenberg has been sentenced to death by China. (Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

China sentences B.C. man to death in drug smuggling case

Robert Lloyd Schellenberg was detained in 2014 and initially sentenced to 15 years in prison

  • Jan. 14, 2019 12:00 a.m.

A Chinese court has sentenced a B.C. man to death in a drug smuggling case.

A court in Dalian in northeastern Liaoning province announced Monday evening that it has given Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, of Abbotsford, the death penalty.

READ MORE: Chinese Huawei executive facing US extradition

The sentence comes after China detained two Canadians in December in apparent retaliation for Canada’s arrest of a Chinese technology executive.

Schellenberg was detained in 2014 and initially sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2016 on charges of being an accessory to drug smuggling. But last month an appeals court agreed with prosecutors who said the sentence was too lenient.

Canada detained Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, on Dec. 1 at the request of the United States, raising tensions between Canada and China.

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