Trudeau condemns jailing of Canadian in China

GBNews24 Desk//

Canada’s Prime Minister has condemned the jailing of businessman Michael Spavor in China as “unacceptable and unjust,” reports AFP.

“China’s conviction and sentencing of Michael Spavor is absolutely unacceptable and unjust,” Justin Trudeau said in a statement after a Chinese court sentenced Spavor to 11 years in prison.

“The verdict for Mr Spavor comes after more than two-and-a-half years of arbitrary detention, a lack of transparency in the legal process, and a trial that did not satisfy even the minimum standards required by international law.”

Spavor was detained in 2018 along with compatriot Michael Kovrig on what the Canadian government has said are trumped-up charges after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada on a US extradition warrant.

Spavor “was convicted of espionage and illegally providing state secrets”, Dandong city’s Intermediate People’s Court said in a statement.

The Canadian ambassador to China hit out at the decision, linking it and the upholding yesterday of the death sentence against another national, to Ms Meng’s ongoing hearings in Vancouver.

“I don’t take it as a coincidence that we have heard the verdicts of these two cases while that trial is going on,” Dominic Barton told reporters.

“I don’t want to talk in detail on that.”

In a message relayed in a consular visit after the sentencing, Spavor said: “Thank you for all your support. I am in good spirits. I want to get home.”

Spavor can appeal the sentence, which was handed down after prosecutors showed the court evidence including photos “from airports where one should not take photos and also some photos from some military bases”, the ambassador added.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this arbitrary sentence. We (have maintained) from the beginning that Michael Sapvor and Michael Kovrig are being detained arbitrarily,” Mr Barton said.

“We are disappointed… Eleven years is a long time.”

The Spavor verdict comes a day after a Chinese court upheld the death sentence of another Canadian citizen on a drug smuggling conviction.

Spavor and Mr Kovrig – a former diplomat – were formally charged with spying in June last year, and their separate trials took place in March.