Canadian's closed-door trial in China over quickly with verdict unknown

DANDONG (China) • The closed-door trial for a Canadian man detained in China for more than two years on espionage charges lasted less than three hours yesterday, a Canadian diplomat said, criticising the lack of transparency.

Michael Spavor is one of two Canadians detained - in apparent retaliation for Canada's arrest, on a United States extradition warrant, of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou - and formally charged last June with spying.

The verdict of his trial remains unknown.

Canada has attacked the charges against its citizens as "trumped-up", and the three cases have sent relations between Ottawa and Beijing to their lowest point in decades.

Spavor's family has called for his unconditional release, insisting that he was innocent of the accusations and had done much as a businessman to "build constructive ties" between Canada, China and North Korea.

Mr Jim Nickel, charge d'affaires of the Canadian Embassy in Beijing, told reporters outside the courtroom in north-eastern China that the hearing was over, and officials were awaiting the verdict.

"The trial has now concluded," Mr Nickel told reporters outside the court, adding that "it remains unclear what transpired" inside the courtroom.

"It's not been a transparent process," he said.

Mr Nickel had earlier told reporters outside the court in the city of Dandong, near China's border with North Korea, that Canada was "disappointed by the lack of transparency and the lack of access" to the proceedings, from which Canadian officials were barred.

Canadian diplomats waved as a police van with tinted windows believed to be carrying Spavor drove out of the court.

A court statement said that the "private hearing" had finished and that the court would "select a date to announce the verdict".

The trial of Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, is scheduled to start next Monday in Beijing.

The two men were detained just days after Meng was arrested in Canada, drawing accusations from Ottawa that they were taken as virtual hostages to apply pressure in the Huawei executive's case.

The timing of the China trials - revealed by the Canadian government only on Wednesday - after a two-year wait also appears linked to proceedings in Meng's case.

Meng, whose father is Huawei founder and chief executive Ren Zhengfei, has been fighting extradition to the US on charges that she and the company violated US sanctions on Iran and other laws.

Her court case in Vancouver entered its final phase two weeks ago, with hearings expected to end in mid-May, barring appeals.

The trial also came alongside high-level talks between the US and China in Anchorage, Alaska.

"(The timing) is not a coincidence," said political science professor Jean-Pierre Cabestan of Hong Kong Baptist University, adding that he believed it was most likely linked to the US-China meetings.

"There have been several attempts to negotiate a deal behind closed doors, unsuccessful until now," he said.

"The trial and early deportation of the two Michaels may even have been a condition for the Anchorage meeting to take place."

The "two Michaels", as the two men have become known, have had almost no contact with the outside world since their detention.

Virtual consular visits resumed only last October, after a nine-month hiatus that the authorities said was due to the coronavirus pandemic.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE