BEIJING (Reuters) – The trial of Michael Kovrig, which has been held in China for more than two years on espionage charges, is underway in Beijing in a closed courtroom, days after the United States raised concerns for his case in tense bilateral talks with China in Alaska.
China arrested Kovrig, a former diplomat, and fellow Canadian Michael Spavor in December 2018, shortly after Canadian police arrested Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese technology company Huawei Technologies, on U.S. orders.
Beijing insists the arrests are unrelated to the arrest of Meng, who remains under house arrest in Vancouver while fighting extradition to the United States.
“We have repeatedly requested access to Michael Kovrig’s hearing, but that access is being denied” for national security reasons, said Jim Nickel, business manager of the Canadian embassy in China, after beginning the trial of journalists in Beijing court. “Now we see that the judicial process itself is not transparent. We are very concerned about that. “
In a show of solidarity, on Monday 28 diplomats from 26 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, appeared before Beijing’s No. 2 Intermediate Court, marked by a strong police presence. .
“President (Joe) Biden (USA) and (Secretary of State Antony) Blinken have said that in dealing with the cases of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, the United States will treat these two individuals as if they were American citizens,” he said. say William Klein, head of business at the U.S. embassy in China, told reporters he was on Nickel’s side.
“We are here to show solidarity. Arbitrary detention is not the way to go, “another diplomat told Reuters, rejecting his name as he was not allowed to speak at the register about the Canadians’ trial.
More than 50 countries signed a statement in February condemning the arbitrary detention of foreign nationals for political purposes.
Some diplomats took off their masks when they posed for a group photo in front of the court, and each shouted which country they represented to help journalists identify them.
On Friday, Spavor, a businessman, was also tried in a closed courtroom in the northeastern city of Dandong. That court said it would set a later date for a verdict.
Canadian diplomats and others were not allowed to attend Spavor’s trial for what China said were reasons for national security, a lack of transparency that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called “completely unacceptable.”
Observers have said the likely convictions of the two men could ultimately facilitate a diplomatic agreement by which they are released and returned to Canada.
Chinese courts have a conviction rate of more than 99%.
“Michael and Michael Spavor are innocent Canadians caught up in a larger geopolitical dispute,” Kovrig’s wife, Vina Nadjibulla, told Reuters.
“His detention is deeply unfair and our approach must continue to be to secure his release,” he said.
Spavor’s trial took place when the United States and China held resentful high-level talks in Alaska. The United States raised the issue during talks, a senior Biden administration official said, including his concern that diplomats be banned from the courtroom during the Spavor trial.
Reports by Yew Lun Tian and Tony Munroe in Beijing and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; writing by Se Young Lee; Edited by Giles Elgood and Gerry Doyle