Overview
- China’s Supreme People’s Court ruled Friday to set aside the death sentence and sent the case back to the Liaoning Provincial High People’s Court for a new trial.
- A spokesperson for Canada’s foreign ministry said Ottawa is aware of the decision and will continue consular support for Schellenberg and his family.
- Beijing-based lawyer Zhang Dongshuo said the timing likely relates to Carney’s visit, while cautioning that an eventual acquittal appears unlikely.
- Schellenberg was arrested in 2014, received a 15-year term in 2018, and was sentenced to death in a 2019 retrial, with that sentence upheld by Liaoning judges in 2021.
- The move comes as Ottawa and Beijing ease tensions following trade talks that produced partial rollbacks of tariffs on electric vehicles and Canadian canola.