After nearly eight years, the trial of a man charged with the murder of exchange student Amanda Zhao has been referred to a Chinese court, according to a pair of B.C. politicians.
Ang Li, accused in the 2002 strangling death of Zhao in Burnaby, will be tried in the Beijing First People's Court, according to NDP MLAs Jenny Kwan and Mike Farnworth.
A court date has yet to be set, but Kwan and Farnworth said they have learned that Li will submit a not-guilty plea.
Zhao was 20 years old and studying English at Coquitlam College at the time of her death.
Li, her boyfriend, reported her missing in October 2002. Eleven days later, hikers found her mangled body stuffed into a duffel bag in the woods near Mission, B.C.
Li fled to China two days after the body was discovered and was charged in absentia with murder seven months later.
Last year, Li was arrested by Chinese authorities after Canada and China reached an agreement that he would be prosecuted in China.
