A Spanish court on Friday convicted a couple of drugging and suffocating their 12-year-old adopted Chinese daughter, in a case that has drawn the attention of Beijing.

Rosario Porto, a former lawyer, and her ex-husband, journalist Alfonso Basterra, had been accused of periodically drugging their daughter Asunta Yong Fang Basterra Porto with the sedative Orfidal for three months and finally strangling her in September 2013.

The child's body was found in a wood near northwestern city of Santiago de Compostela, which is famous for being the final destination of the El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route that has drawn Christians since the Middle Ages.

A nine-member jury unanimously found the pair guilty of murdering Asunta, whom they had adopted as a baby, after a month-long trial in which they had insisted their innocence.

"They were found guilty of murder," a spokesman for the regional appeals court in Galicia, northwest Spain, told AFP.

The couple could face up to 20 years in jail. The court will issue its sentence in a few weeks.

Prosecutors charged that the murder had been planned by both parents, but carried out by the mother.

They accused the parents of giving Asunta varying doses of Orfidal to test its impact on her before finally giving a strong enough does to knock her out so they could choke her to death with a rope without the girl being able to fight back.

Several of Asunta's teachers told the court during the trial that Asunta was frequently very sleepy in the weeks leading up to her death. The girl's parents attributed her drowsiness to allergy pills which they say she took.

"The jury judged that the victim would not have been able to defend herself and refused to acquit the two accused," the court said in a statement.

More than a hundred witnesses and experts had been called to testify during the high-profile trial and the jury had been deliberating since Monday.





- 'Suffered depression' -





Porto's lawyer Jose Luis Gutierrez Aranguren said he would appeal the verdict and if necessary take the case all the way to the European Court of Human Rights.

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"I continue to fully believe in my client's innocence," he told AFP.

Porto, a 46-year-old Spanish national who acted as French honorary consul in Galicia from 1996-2006, says Asunta went missing after she was left alone at her apartment in Santiago.

At the time of the girl's death, the couple were separated but were raising their adopted daughter together.

Eyebrows were raised when a photo of Asunta wearing fishnet stockings taken by her father was published in the media. Basterra's defence team said the girl was wearing a costume at the time.

The case shocked Spain and drew international attention when it came to light, prompting a statement of concern by the Chinese foreign ministry.

Asunta was adopted by the couple in China 14 years ago when she was less than a year old.

She was the first Chinese baby to be adopted in Galicia and her arrival in the region was covered by a local television station in which the couple spoke of their joy in finally having her in Spain after a long and complicated process.

Raised in a comfortable middle class household, Asunta was a bright student who had English lessons as well as piano, violin and dance classes, according to daily newspaper El Pais.

Spain's media has pored over the details of the case, which remains shrouded in mystery over a possible motive for the crime.

Porto, who dressed in black throughout the 18 days of the trial, told the court that she had been suffering from depression the year Asunta died as both her parents had recently passed away and had herself been taking Orfidal.

"When you are depressed you can scarcely look after yourself," she told the court when asked if she had been concerned for Asunta's welfare.