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Australian actor Karm Gilespie, who appeared in Blue Heelers in the 90s, is facing the death penalty if a bid to overturn his drug trafficking conviction fails.
The 61-year-old was arrested in December 2012 when he was found with 7.5kg of methamphetamine in his luggage at Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou, China.
He has been detained in a cell in Southern China ever since.
Despite always maintaining his innocence, Karm was found guilty and sentenced to death in June 2020.
The retired actor appealed his conviction a month later; however, the outcome has never been released. According to the court’s website, a verdict will be announced at a later date.
“There is usually a death penalty review after the appeal verdict involving the Supreme People’s Court conducting a special review and approval process for cases sentenced to death,” Chinese criminal lawyer Jin Ling told the Daily Telegraph.
“Judges reviewing the death penalty are very cautious, especially when involving foreign citizens – the result will rarely be different.”
If the appeal isn’t successful, Karm will be executed immediately.
When approached by the Herald Sun, a staff member from the Australian Consulate-General in Guangzhou declined to comment on the matter, revealing that they aren’t permitted to release any information about Australian prisoners without approval from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“We visit them on a regular basis and forward all the updates we get back to the DFAT in Australia,” they added in a statement to the publication.
Karm is reportedly being held in the same prison as Australian-New Zealand citizen, Peter Gardner, who was also arrested at Baiyun airport in 2014 and charged with allegedly trafficking 30kg of methamphetamine.
Peter was arrested alongside his then-girlfriend Kalynda Davis; however, she was later released without charge. Peter was found guilty and sentenced to death.
