Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg during his retrial on drug trafficking charges in Dalian, China, in a 2019 file photo.Supplied/AFP/Getty Images
Robert Schellenberg, a Canadian sentenced to a death penalty after being convicted of drug offences in China, is at risk of being executed, advocates fear, after The Globe and Mail revealed China put to death four other Canadians earlier this year.
Mr. Schellenberg was first arrested in 2014 and accused of being involved in a scheme to export 222 kilograms of methamphetamine from China to Australia. He has always maintained his innocence, describing himself as a tourist who was enmeshed in the conspiracy by his translator, Chinese national Xu Qing.
“I am not a drug smuggler. I am not a drug user. I am a normal person,” Mr. Schellenberg said at trial. “I am innocent.”
In November, 2018, he received a 15-year sentence for his alleged role in the scheme, but weeks later, after the arrest in Vancouver of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou and a cratering of relations between Ottawa and Beijing, the Chinese authorities reopened Mr. Schellenberg’s case.
At a second, one-day trial in January, 2019, Mr. Schellenberg’s sentence was upgraded to the death penalty, a decision Canada denounced as “arbitrary.”
Mr. Schellenberg launched an appeal against the new verdict, but this was rejected in August, 2021. China has a conviction rate of more than 99 per cent, according to official statistics, and appeals are rarely successful.
After that ruling, Mr. Schellenberg’s case was passed to China’s Supreme People’s Court, which must approve all death penalties before they are carried out.
In an interview with The Globe, Mr. Schellenberg’s lawyer, Zhang Dongshuo, said there has been no information about when the top court would issue a final ruling on his client’s case.
“At one point late last year, around December, there was talk that Schellenberg’s case might come to an end, but that didn’t happen,” he said.
Mr. Zhang said he was aware of the execution of the four other Canadians – whom Ottawa said were dual Chinese-Canadian nationals, but did not name – which he said took place “around the end of last month.”
He last spoke to his client in December, describing him as being “still in good shape, though he was rather anxious about the future of his case.”
“I told him that there was no need for him to be overly concerned because the Supreme People’s Court took up his case more than three years ago and still had not approved the death penalty.”
Mr. Zhang said Mr. Schellenberg had a meeting with consular staff booked for early April, suggesting he was not at immediate risk of execution, and added he expected to get “advance indication” if the death penalty was to be carried out.
Canada’s embassy in Beijing did not respond to a request for comment about any visits booked with Mr. Schellenberg.
“The fact that Schellenberg was not included with the four other Canadian citizens who were executed is to some extent good news,” Mr. Zhang said.
Still, there is great fear among advocates that Mr. Schellenberg could be next to be executed, despite a flurry of lobbying behind the scenes by Canadian officials.
In a statement to The Globe, Charlotte MacLeod, a spokeswoman for Global Affairs, said Ottawa “continues to advocate for clemency for Robert Schellenberg and provides him and his family consular assistance.”
She declined to provide further information, citing privacy considerations.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said both she and former prime minister Justin Trudeau had intervened in recent months to ask Beijing for leniency on behalf of the Canadians on death row.
Former Canadian officials, and human-rights campaigners, including John Kamm, founder of the San Francisco-based Dui Hua Foundation, which lobbies against the death penalty in China, were also involved in the unsuccessful effort to stop the execution of the four Canadians.
Dui Hua has described Mr. Schellenberg’s case as “overtly political” given its connection to the arrest of Ms. Meng. The Huawei executive was released in September, 2021, after a deal between China, Canada and the United States, which also resulted in Beijing freeing jailed Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.
Mr. Schellenberg’s fate remained undecided, however, awaiting a decision from the Supreme People’s Court, which approves almost all death penalty decisions sent to it for review.
Some hope came with the release in November of American Mark Swidan, who, like Mr. Schellenberg, had been convicted on drug charges and sentenced to death. Mr. Swidan was first arrested in 2012, and his death sentence was upheld with a two-year reprieve as recently as 2023.
Mr. Swidan was released after years of lobbying by the U.S., which regarded him as “unlawfully detained.” But similar efforts by Canada, including to free the two Michaels, have had limited effect, and the recent executions have only raised concern.
Responding to criticism of the executions revealed this week, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning on Thursday urged Canada to “respect the spirit of the rule of law and stop interfering in China’s judicial sovereignty.”
Ms. Mao said China treats defendants of all nationalities equally and handles cases strictly in accordance with the law.