Dandong: China is expected to open the first trial on Friday for one of the two Canadians detained for more than two years as apparent retaliation for the arrest of a senior Chinese CEO in Canada.
Canada said its consular officials had not received permission to attend the proceedings, despite several requests. They have been informed that a court hearing will be held for Michael Spavor on Friday, and that one for Michael Kovrig will follow on Monday.
China has not publicly confirmed the court dates and calls to court in Dandong, the northeastern city where Spavor has been charged, have gone unanswered.
Sidewalks were lined with police ribbons and journalists were kept at a distance as police cars and pickup trucks with lights flashed inside the court complex, located along the Yalu River that separates China from North Korea.
“The official notice received from Chinese authorities indicated that these hearings were closed to the public and the media,” said Canada spokeswoman Christelle Chartrand.
Spavor and Kovrig were detained in December 2018, days after Huawei CEO Meng Wanzhou was arrested at the airport in Vancouver, British Columbia, at the request of the United States.
The US is rightly demanding her extradition on charges of fraud related to her company’s operations with Iran.
The two Canadians have since been detained while Meng was released on bail. They were charged in June 2020 with spying under China’s national security laws.
Spavor, an entrepreneur with North Korea-related affairs, is accused of spying for a foreign entity and illegally providing state secrets. Kovrig, an analyst and former diplomat, was charged in collaboration with Spavor with spying for state secrets and intelligence.
Prosecutors have not released details of the charges and trial in national security cases is usually held behind closed doors. According to the state-run Global Times newspaper, Kovrig is accused of using an ordinary passport and business visa since 2017 to enter China to steal sensitive information and intelligence through contacts in China, while Spavor is accused of ‘ was an important source of intelligence for Kovrig.
Meng’s lawyers said in Vancouver on Thursday that Canadian officials were abusing their power when they conspired with the United States to arrest her. Defense attorney Tony Paisana said officers from the Canadian Border Patrol Agency took Meng’s phones, obtained their passwords and then gave them to Canadian police so the information could be shared with the FBI.
According to Paisana, Meng was never told during questioning that she was facing a warrant in the United States and would have immediately asked a lawyer if it had been informed. The Chief Justice, British Columbia Chief Justice Heather Holmes, suggested that border officials should have questioned Meng more closely if their exams were in fact a secret criminal investigation, as her lawyers said.
China has demanded Meng’s immediate and unconditional release, saying the US designed her detention as part of a bid to curb China’s growing rise. Canadian authorities say Kovrig and Spavor have been arbitrarily arrested for pressuring Ottawa and say they should be released without charge.
China has also restricted various Canadian exports, including canola oilseeds, and imposed death sentences on four more Canadians convicted of drug smuggling.
Source: Telangana Today