The Canadian Michael Spavor will be behind bars in China for eleven years. The businessman was guilty of espionage. The verdict is considered a heavy blow to the already strained relations between Beijing and Ottawa.
Canadian businessman Michael Spavor has been sentenced to 11 years in prison in China against the backdrop of diplomatic tensions. A court in the northeast Chinese city of Dandong found him guilty of espionage and obtaining state secrets on Wednesday. The ruling is considered a severe blow to relations between Canada and China.
Spavor, like his compatriot Michael Kovrig, was taken into custody in China in December 2018, shortly after Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Chinese telecom giant Huawei, was arrested in Canada. Beijing is therefore accused of “hostage diplomacy”.
Diplomats from 25 countries expressed their solidarity with Canada
Canada’s ambassador to China, Dominic Barton, said after the court’s verdict: “We condemn this decision.” According to the diplomat, Spavor has the opportunity to appeal. “He’s going to discuss this with his lawyers,” said Barton.
In solidarity with Canada, around 50 diplomats from 25 countries gathered in the Canadian embassy in Beijing on Wednesday, as a journalist from the AFP news agency reported. His family had asserted that Spavor was innocent and, as a businessman, had done a lot to build “constructive relationships” between Canada, China and North Korea.
The verdict in the Spavor case came a day after a Chinese court upheld Robert Lloyd Schellenberg’s death sentence. The Canadian was convicted of drug trafficking.
The trial lasted three hours – in camera
Spavor was arrested in December 2018 along with his compatriot Michael Kovrig – a former Canadian diplomat. In June of last year, the two were charged with espionage and their trials took place in March. Spavor’s trial lasted only three hours. Observers were not allowed to do this.
The actions of the Chinese authorities against Kovrig and Spavor have been causing a diplomatic dispute between Canada and China for some time. Her arrest at the end of 2018 was seen as a reprisal for the imprisonment of the Chinese Huawei top manager Meng Wanzhou in Canada a few days earlier – and as leverage against the government in Ottawa. The chief financial officer of the Chinese technology giant was arrested at the instigation of the USA during a stopover in Vancouver, Canada. The daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei is accused of bank fraud in the US in connection with violations of sanctions against Iran. In Canada, a process is in the final stages to decide whether to extradite the businesswoman to the United States.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denounced the “arbitrary detention” of the two men and the “lack of transparency” of the Chinese authorities during the trial. Beijing described Meng’s arrest as a “political” maneuver and called on Ottawa to “release the executive immediately”. At the same time, China had denied using the two detained Canadians as bargaining chips.
Hardly any contact with the outside world for more than two and a half years
Michael Spavor is a North Korea expert and has met several times with Prime Minister Kim Jong Un and, for example, organized visits by former American basketball player Dennis Rodman to Pyongyang. Thanks to his contacts with North Korea’s leadership, the Canadian played the role of a mediator between foreign interlocutors and the authorities of the internationally isolated country.
Since their imprisonment, Spavor and Kovrig have had almost no contact with the outside world. Due to the corona pandemic, Canadian diplomats were not allowed to see the two for nine months last year. They were only able to visit them again in October – but only virtually.
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