Drug trafficking is a big and constantly growing problem in Canada, but on the other hand, it is also a problem in other countries. In some case Canada citizens involved in drug trafficking and smuggling, but recent international court hearing caught press attention – Citizen of Canada is sentenced to death for drug smuggling in China
A middle stage court in the city of Dalian in Liaoning province in northeastern China sentenced a Canadian citizen to death for drug smuggling, according to a court statement.
Earlier it was reported that the defendant - Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, who was previously found guilty of drug smuggling, appealed the decision of the court to a higher authority.
On Monday, January 14th the court held a meeting in the case of Canadian citizen Schellenberg and on the same day passed the verdict. "The court sentenced the accused Schellenberg to death, and also decided to confiscate all personal property," - said in a statement published on the website of the court.
It is reported that on November 20th, 2018, the Dalian Middle Stage Court sentenced Schellenberg to 15 years in prison for drug smuggling, and also decided to confiscate 150,000 yuan and also extradite him to his home country. However, Schellenberg disagreed with the verdict and appealed to a higher authority. In December last year, a provincial court of the highest degree held a public hearing on this case.
During the hearing, the prosecutor considered the verdict of the higher court, in which the accused was found to be an accomplice, and the act itself was qualified as an attempt to commit a crime, and the punishment rendered inappropriate. The court decided to return the case for retrial. The prosecutor's office supplemented the case with new facts.
The court ruled that the defendant was involved in an international organized criminal activity. Accomplices through him smuggled 222.035 kilograms of methamphetamine. The court found that these actions contained a crime qualified as “drug smuggling”.
Taking into account the facts of the crimes of the accused, the nature and circumstances of the crime, as well as the degree of public danger, the defendant was sentenced to death in accordance with the Criminal Code of China.
During the pronouncement of the sentence, the defendant was informed that he had the right to appeal against the court sentence within 10 days.
It is reported that before the hearing, the court notified the Canadian embassy and the representative of the embassy was in the courtroom.
Drug trafficking problem is on a rise in Canada for the last couple of years. Winnipeg authorities started a full-scale investigation into city`s meth problem. As per Winnipeg Police, there is a spike in meth-related crime incidents, like property theft, residential break-ins, unreasonable anger towards each other (meth users) and other people around them, violent attacks, some ending up in lethal outcomes for victims. Opioid use continues to be a public-health crisis with just under 4,000 deaths across Canada in 2017 and over 3,000 in 2016.