- A Chinese court sentenced Canadian businessman Michael Spavor to 11 years in prison for espionage.
- His verdict came when the Canadian lawyer representing the chief financial officer of the Chinese telecom giant Huawei finally tried to persuade the local court not to extradite her to the United States.
- Canadian ambassador to China, Dominic Patton, called for the release of Spavor and fellow Canadian Michael Cumming, who is also awaiting a verdict in a spy case.
A Chinese court on Wednesday convicted Canadian businessman Michael Spavor for espionage and sentenced him to 11 years in prison, a case involving a wider diplomatic dispute involving Washington and Beijing.
His verdict came when the Canadian lawyer representing the chief financial officer of the Chinese telecom giant Huawei finally tried to persuade the local court not to extradite her to the United States.
Canadian Ambassador to China Dominic Barton (Dominic Barton) was at the Northeast China Detention Center where the sentence was pronounced. He said:
In the absence of fair and transparent legal procedures, we condemn this decision in the strongest terms.
In a video speech to diplomats and reporters gathered at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing, Patton called for the release of Spavor and fellow Canadian Michael Cumming Kai, who is also awaiting the verdict of the spy case.
Patton visited Spavor after the verdict. He said that Spavor had three pieces of information he asked to share with the outside world: “Thank you for your support”, “I am in a good mood” and “I want to go home.”
The Dandong Intermediate Court also seized Spavor’s personal assets of 50,000 yuan. Patton said he will be deported after serving his sentence.
The possible sentence ranges from 5 to 20 years.
China detained Spavor in December 2018. A few days ago, Canada arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou at Vancouver International Airport under a US arrest warrant.
He was accused of espionage in June 2019. The Dandong Court concluded its one-day trial in March and did not announce its verdict until Wednesday.
Spavor’s family said in March that the allegations against him were vague and had not been made public, and that he had “very limited contact and interaction with the Chinese defense lawyers he hired”.
The former diplomat, Kang Mingkai, was also detained in China after he was arrested in Meng at the end of 2018 and accused of espionage. His trial ended in March, and the verdict will be announced on an unspecified date.
Some observers said that the convictions of the two Canadians may eventually help reach an agreement to release them and return them to Canada.
The conviction rate in China far exceeds 99%, and trials of sensitive cases by the public and the media are usually limited.
Since Meng’s arrest, China has sentenced four Canadians to death on drug charges. They are Robert Schellenberg, Fan Wei, Ye Jianhui and Xu Weihong.
China rejected the claim that the Canadian case in China was related to Meng’s case in Canada, although Beijing warned that unless Meng is released, the consequences are unclear.
Meng was accused of misleading HSBC Holdings Ltd. regarding Huawei’s business dealings in Iran, which could cause the bank to violate US economic sanctions against Tehran.
Meng said she was innocent and she has been opposed to her extradition from house arrest in Vancouver.
Her extradition hearing in Canada is currently in the final few weeks, waiting for a judge’s decision, and is expected to be sometime in the next few months, before the Canadian Minister of Justice makes a final decision on whether to extradite her.
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