Dharamshala, 13th August: Canada has announced that it will appeal to Canadian businessman Michael Spavor’s conviction in China, calling the 11-year term for spying a “fake trial.” Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau cited a lack of evidence in the case against Spavor, who conducted a tourism and cultural exchange business between China and North Korea for years, at a press conference on Wednesday.
Spavor “was convicted of spying and illegally revealing state secrets,” according to a statement released by Dandong city’s Intermediate People’s Court on Wednesday. He was given an 11-year prison sentence. Spavor was one of two Canadians imprisoned in China in December 2018, shortly after Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, the Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei’s chief financial officer, in response to a US extradition request.
Meng is currently fighting extradition in a Canadian court, despite the fact that she denies violating US sanctions against Iran. On Wednesday, Canadian government lawyers launched closing arguments in her case, claiming that the US case was valid and that the standard for extradition was low. Michael Kovrig, an International Crisis Group analyst, is likewise accused of spying and was tried in China shortly after Spavor in March. In his case, the court has yet to reach a decision.
The two men have been held incommunicado, with only restricted access to consular officials and even lawyers. Their detentions have strained relations between Beijing and Ottawa, which has accused China of punishing the two as retaliation for Meng’s detention. China has refuted the claim, claiming that the two cases are unrelated.
Inexcusable and unjust
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau criticized the Chinese court’s judgment in Spavor’s case as “totally unacceptable and unjust” on Wednesday, vowing to repatriate both Spavor and Kovrig. As Spavor was condemned in Dandong, the border city where he established his residence, twenty-five international embassies gathered to demonstrate their support for Canada. Diplomats were forbidden from visiting the courtroom during his March trial, which lasted approximately two hours.
The United States also decried the Canadian men’s “arbitrary incarceration” and Spavor’s 11-year sentence. On Wednesday, Garneau said the government would continue to seek clemency for Canadian citizen Robert Schellenberg, who was condemned to death in China for narcotics smuggling.
Schellenberg was originally sentenced to 15 years in jail in late 2018, but due to the collapse in ties following Meng’s detention, his sentence was modified to the death penalty mere months later. Schellenberg’s appeal was dismissed by a Chinese court this week.
Picture Credit: Florence Lo/Reuters
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