The son of actor Jackie Chan has been sentenced to six months in jail after pleaded guilty in a Beijing court to providing a venue for drug users.
Police seized more than 100 grams of marijuana during an August raid at Jaycee Chan’s Beijing home, while he and Taiwanese movie star Ko Kai both tested positive for the drug, it was reported.
His imprisonment comes amid a major crackdown on illegal drugs in China, and is particularly embarrassing for his father, who in 2009 was named an anti-drug ambassador.
‘I violated the law. I deserve to be punished. When I return to society, I won’t do it again,’ Chan said in courtroom footage aired on state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV).
Police arrested more than 7,800 people last summer in Beijing over illegal drug use.
Other celebrities, including actor Gao Hu, were also among those detained in what was described as the biggest such crackdown in two decades.
Illegal drug use has ballooned in China in recent decades, after being virtually eradicated following the 1949 communist revolution.
Official News Agency Xinhua said the maximum sentence for the charge against Chan was three years in prison.
The trial and sentence were especially sensitive for Jackie Chan, who was named an anti-drug ambassador in 2009, and sits on China’s top national political advisory panel — the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
The actor has told Xinhua that he did not use his connections to interfere with the case and that he hopes his singer-actor son will eventually become an anti-drug ambassador.
CCTV had aired video of the police raid on Jaycee Chan’s apartment, in which Chan was shown identifying marijuana in his possession. Ko testified on camera that he had used drugs at Chan’s home.
CCTV also said Chan told police that he has been using drugs for eight years.
Ko, whose real name is Ko Chen-tung, has been released after a 14-day administrative detention for drug use.
