Celebrity son of Jackie Chan sentenced to 6 months for drug charge

BEIJING (Kyodo) — The son of kung fu movie star Jackie Chan was sentenced Friday to six months in jail for providing a venue for drug users.

Jaycee Chan, a 32-year-old actor and singer, was also ordered to pay 2,000 yuan, or about $320, after he pleaded guilty to the charge, Beijing's Dongcheng District People's Court said on its microblog account.

The junior Chan was detained by police August last year in Beijing with several others and was indicted in December for allowing his apartment to be used for taking drugs between 2012 and 2014.

He tested positive for marijuana and the police seized about 117 grams of marijuana from his bedroom, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

“I have broken the law and must be punished,” Chan told the court, in footage broadcast from the courtroom. “When I return to the society, I will never repeat my mistake again.”

He is due to be released next month, with the length of time he spent on remand having been taken into consideration by the court. The maximum penalty for the offense is three years of imprisonment.

Chan was among a series of celebrities caught in connection with drug use, particularly in Beijing, in the wake of President Xi Jinping's declaration in June that illegal drugs should be wiped out and that offenders would be severely punished.

His much more famous father was named an official anti drug ambassador in China in 2009. The senior Chan is also a delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top national advisory panel.

Arrested along with the junior Chan last August was Taiwanese movie star Ko Chen-tung, who spent two weeks in detention before being allowed to return to Taiwan where he publicly apologized to his fans.