China overturns death sentence for Canadian: report

Death sentence overturned

Photo: The Canadian Press

Zhang Dongshuo, lawyer for Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, chats before an interview in Beijing Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

China's highest court has overturned a Canadian man's death sentence, The New York Times reports.

The newspaper says the death sentence ordered for B.C. native Robert Lloyd Schellenberg after he was convicted on drug smuggling charges in 2019 has been overturned by the Supreme People’s Court.

The decision comes just weeks after Prime Minister Mark Carney was in Beijing for meetings with President Xi Jinping and other officials.

Clémence Grevey, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, told The Canadian Press the department is aware of a decision issued by the court in Schellenberg’s case.

Grevey says the department will "continue to provide consular services to Mr. Schellenberg and to his family."

She says Canada has advocated for clemency in this case, as it does for all Canadians who are sentenced to death abroad.