Officials are doing everything they can to help an Australian man sentenced to death in China for drug smuggling.
Karm Gilespie, 56, was sentenced in the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court on Saturday and has just 10 days to appeal the verdict.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack has highlighted the need for diplomacy in the case, rejecting assertions the penalty may be politically motivated.
“What we need to do is be very careful, and what we need to do is make sure that anything that’s said about this matter doesn’t affect Mr Gilespie’s cause and cases in any way, shape or form,” he told the ABC on Monday.
“We want to make sure that we give him every available assistance and we are, through the proper processes.”
Mr Gilespie was arrested in 2013 with more than 7.5 kilograms of methamphetamine in his check-in luggage as he was about to board an international flight from Baiyun Airport, in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.
The court also ordered all of his personal property be confiscated.
Thank you to everyone who has been sharing the message about Karm Gilespie and the death sentence China has given him….
Posted by Roger James Hamilton on Sunday, June 14, 2020
In a post on Facebook, Bali entrepreneur Roger James Hamilton said he taught Mr Gilespie, a former actor, seven years ago before he suddenly vanished.
“We spent a few years trying to find out how he could disappear so suddenly and so entirely. After that, we resigned ourselves to the idea that he had left because he wanted to start a new life,” he wrote.
“Today I heard the news of what had happened to him.”
Mr Hamilton claims his friend was duped into carrying the drugs by investors, who asked had him to carry presents back to Australia on their behalf.
“Knowing Karm, and knowing the love he had (and has) for his wife and his children, this is not a man that deserves to lose his life,” he said.
Another friend posted on Facebook about his sadness and shock and what has happened to Mr Gilespie.
“The Karm I met would never get knowingly involved in such a crime and does not deserve such a severe penalty for his trusting nature being taken advantage of,” Andy Greenhill wrote.
Mr Gilespie worked as an actor before turning to investing, motivational speaking and business coaching.
-AAP
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