Drug smuggler faces retrial as court says 15 years is too lenient

A Chinese court said Saturday that a 15-year jail sentence for a Canadian national charged with drug smuggling was too “lenient” and remanded his case for a retrial.

The decision comes as Beijing and Ottawa remain embroiled in a diplomatic row triggered by Canada’s early December arrest of a senior executive from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.

The high court in Liaoning, which heard Robert Lloyd Schellenberg’s appeal Saturday, said in a statement that a previous ruling in November, which sentenced him to 15 years in jail and a 150,000 yuan ($21,800) forfeiture, was “obviously inappropriate” given the severity of his crimes.

Schellenberg played an “important role” in drug smuggling and was potentially involved in international organised drug trafficking activities, said the court, and passed his case back to the lower Dalian court for a retrial without specifying a date.