Canadian accused of smuggling meth
Robert Lloyd Schellenberg was initially sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2016 for being an accessory to drug smuggling.
He claimed he was framed and appealed but in China if you appeal you can be sentenced to a harsher penalty. Schellenberg picked the wrong time to appeal as the Meng case blew up and he lost the appeal and his sentence was raised to the death penalty. Court retrials are rare in China and retrials calling for a harsher sentence are even rarer.
Maybe it's related to Meng and the Huawei row, maybe not but at some point perception is reality. Hammering that home, the CBC reports that "the Chinese government took the rare step of inviting foreign media to attend his appeal hearing - prompting speculation that Beijing wanted to use Schellenberg's case to exert pressure on Ottawa."
