BEIJING – Chinese officials confirmed Sunday they executed a French national who had been on death row since 2010 for drug trafficking offenses, defending their judicial process amid criticism from France regarding the handling of the case.
The Chinese embassy in France issued a statement about the execution of 62-year-old Chan Thao Phoumy, who had served 20 years behind bars before his death sentence was carried out.
French foreign ministry officials expressed disappointment Saturday, stating they “particularly regretted” that Chan’s legal representatives were barred from attending the court’s final proceedings, which they said violated his legal rights.
As one of the nations with the harshest penalties for drug-related crimes worldwide, China has previously executed foreign nationals found guilty of smuggling substantial quantities of narcotics across its borders, though the government does not publicly release execution data.
Chan, who was born in Guangzhou in southern China but later became a naturalized French citizen, was among 89 individuals taken into custody in 2005 on drug trafficking charges. He initially received a life sentence in 2007.
A court in his birth city upgraded his sentence to death in 2010 due to his involvement in a drug enterprise valued at 100 million yuan (approximately $15 million) that manufactured, transported and distributed large quantities of crystal methamphetamine throughout China.
While China’s legal system allows for capital punishment when defendants are caught with as little as 50 grams of heroin or methamphetamine, executions typically occur in cases involving significantly larger trafficking operations.
