A Student in American Who Faced Death Penalty in China Released for Distributing
A college student in American has returned to the United States after serving an eight months jail sentence in a Chinese prison after being falsely accused of distributing cannabis. 23-year-old Matthew Fellows who come from Gambrills, Maryland arrived Los Angeles before switching planes for a flight destined for Washington, D.C.
According to Matthew’s parents, Donna and Bill Fellows, it’s a big relieve that Matthew has returned home after being locked up for eight months without bail.
Donna Fellows said there are very happy that their son has returned home and filled him with a lot of love. They also said that it’d been a tough period for the entire family, and they are happy its finally over.
Matthew is a fluent speaker of Mandarin, and he traveled to China to teach schoolchildren the English language. However, he was later admitted as a student at a university in Nanjing.
Then Matthew was later arrested and locked at Nanjing Detention on four charges of drug trafficking. He was in a prison cell with 15 other men for eight months, eating only a bowl of rice and a cup of watery porridge each day.
When Matthews parents learned that their son had been arrested, they started seeking help from experts at Conflict International, an interrogative, intelligence, and security firm. The director of the firm, Stephen Komorek, accepted to help secure Matthew’s release pro bono.
Komorek said that they instantly reviewed their assets within the Chinese government and had the opportunity to learn what had happened to Mr. Fellows.
The investigators were told that Matthew was detained because he lite a joint and shared it with friends at a university center, which is considered as a drug trafficking offense in China.
According to Komorek, Matthew’s predicament was dire.
He also said that Matthew could be sentenced to death if he was trafficking drugs in a different region in China because China has a zero-tolerance approach.
However, when Komorek, the local authorities, and the court system conducted their investigation, they succeeded in getting the truth.
It was discovered that an unknown person had called the police with the trumped-up allegations.
Komorek said that locals were interested in Mr. Fellow’s Russian girlfriend Victoria. People were jealous of Mr. Fellow because of a romantic rival he was even unaware of. It was later discovered that Mr. Fellows was falsely convicted for a crime he did not commit.
Komorek and his team successfully convinced local authorities of Matthew’s innocence, and he was later released on Sunday.
According to Komorek, the judge in the case was fair enough to acknowledge the evidence brought forward, and the charges were dropped. He also thanked the government of China for caring for their citizen and working together to get to the truth.
According to Komorek, the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai, the US Embassy in Beijing, the government of China, and the senator of Maryland, Ben Cardin’s office played a role in securing Matthew’s release.
When Matthew got his freedom, he updated his Facebook status to let friends and family know of his whereabouts.
Matthews said that he didn’t wear shoes while he was in prison for eight months and it made his feet and al the muscles associated with foot movement in his lower legs to hurt.
