Author: Laurie Chen
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s top court has overturned a Canadian man’s death sentence on drug charges, his lawyer said on Monday, marking a breakthrough in a case that has strained diplomatic relations between Ottawa and Beijing for years.
Robert Schellenberg was arrested in China in 2014 on suspicion of drug smuggling, convicted in 2018 and initially sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was subsequently sentenced to death in a retrial in January 2019, a month after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver on a U.S. warrant.
China’s Supreme People’s Court ruled on Friday to overturn a lower court’s death sentence, Beijing lawyer Zhang Dongshuo told Reuters. He said the case will be transferred to the Liaoning Provincial Higher People’s Court for retrial.
The breakthrough came less than a month after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney paid a four-day visit to China, where he welcomed an improvement in relations after deteriorating under previous Canadian leader Justin Trudeau.
A spokesperson for Canada’s foreign affairs ministry told Reuters they were aware of the Supreme Court’s decision and would continue to provide consular services to Schellenberg and his family, but did not elaborate on the decision.
“Judging from the official positions of the two countries after the Canadian Prime Minister’s visit to China, based on my experience, the possibility of the Supreme Court making a (relevant) judgment is very high,” Zhang said.
However, he added that the likelihood of Schellenberg being acquitted was low given the seriousness of the original conviction.
Canada said at the time that four Canadian citizens had been executed by China last year on drug smuggling charges.
In 2021, the Liaoning Provincial Court upheld Schellenberg’s death sentence after an appeal hearing, prompting condemnation from Ottawa at the time.
Shortly after Meng was detained, China detained two Canadians on espionage charges, sparking international criticism of hostage diplomacy. They were released in 2021, the same day the United States dropped its extradition request for Meng Wanzhou and she returned to China.
Following similar restrictions in the United States, the Canadian government imposed tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in 2024, further straining diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Last March, China imposed tariffs on more than $2.6 billion worth of Canadian agricultural and food products, such as canola oil and canola meal, followed by tariffs on canola seed in August.
Following Carney’s visit, the two countries agreed to slash tariffs on electric vehicles and canola, a major reversal from previous policy.
Analysts say rapprochement between Canada and China could reshape the political and economic context in which the U.S.-China competition unfolds, although Ottawa is not expected to move significantly away from Washington.
(Reporting by Laurie Chen in Beijing; Additional reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)