China executes French citizen convicted of drug trafficking

BEIJING – China confirmed on April 5 the execution of a French national sentenced to death in 2010 for drug trafficking, saying it did not discriminate against defendants on the basis of nationality, a day after Paris criticised the court handling of the case.

The Chinese Embassy in France made the remarks in a brief statement on the execution of 62-year-old Chan Thao Phoumy after a 20-year stint in jail.

On April 4, the French Foreign Ministry said it “particularly regretted” that Chan’s defence was not allowed to attend the court’s final hearing in violation of his rights.

China, one of the world’s toughest enforcers of laws against drug trafficking, has occasionally executed foreign nationals convicted of smuggling large amounts across its borders, but does not release statistics on executions.

Chan, born in the southern city of Guangzhou but later a naturalised French citizen, was one of 89 suspects arrested in 2005 for drug trafficking before being jailed for life in 2007.

He was handed the death penalty in 2010 by a court in his home town for his role in a 100 million yuan (S$18.7 million) drug operation that made, transported and dealt in large amounts of crystal methamphetamine in China.

China’s threshold for the death penalty is 50g of heroin or methamphetamine, but trafficking in much larger amounts is generally what leads to execution. REUTERS