Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig have not been tried, officials confirm

Global Affairs has confirmed Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor have not appeared in court, after an erroneous statement from the Chinese foreign ministry.

BEIJING (NEWS 1130) – China says two Canadians, who have been held in a high-stakes diplomatic scuffle for two years, have been tried and indicted.

The Chinese government has given very few details about what’s happened with Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, but the news of their indictment comes on the two year anniversary of their detention in China.

Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Spavor, a businessman, have been confined since Dec. 10, 2018. They were arrested in China just days after Canada detained Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou.

China has said the two Michaels are being held on suspicion of committing acts harmful to its national security but has never revealed the specifics and has given them extremely limited consular access. Their arrests are widely seen as retaliation for Meng’s detention.

The Chinese foreign ministry said on Thursday the two have been arrested, indicted, and tried, reiterating their cases were different in nature than Meng’s, calling hers a purely political incident, but providing no other details.

Meng was taken into custody at Vancouver International Airport at the request of the U.S. on Dec. 1, 2018. She and Huawei are accused by the Americans of contravening U.S. sanctions on Iran — accusations they both deny.

Meng is currently out on bail in Vancouver as she faces extradition to the U.S..

‘We don’t know enough’

A colleague at Kovrig’s employer, the International Crisis Group, Praveen Madhiraju, tells NEWS 1130 they can’t believe it has been two years since the Micheals have been detained by Beijing.

“In a case that has really nothing to do with him or anything that he’s done. He’s essentially being held as collateral in a high-stakes game of hostage diplomacy,” he says.

Madhiraju notes very little information has been provided about what’s happened to their colleague.

“So far, Michael has only been allowed periodic consular visits and since the early part of 2020, those visits were restricted, in part, because of the coronavirus. They’ve more recently resumed in a virtual format, but that’s been his only real contact with the outside world, through his consular visits, and they’ve only been a few more recently,” he explains.

“The hard part is we don’t know enough, but we do know that he has not been able to see his family or his friends in two years. He did have one brief phone conversation with his father but otherwise his contact with the outside world has been extremely limited.”

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Charles Burton, an expert on China with the McDonald-Laurier Institute, has previously predicted Kovrig and Spavor would face what he calls a “sham secret trial,” with the usual process from Beijing to give death sentences, suspended for two years before being commuted to life in prison.

But, again, China has said little other than the two Michaels have apparently gone before the court.

“The matter is still not absolutely clear,” Burton reiterates, saying some reports have suggested the Canadian government was not even aware the Michaels’ cases had gone to trial.

“In general, I think on the face of it there are a number of interpretations that one could take from this movement. Technically, it’s not a good thing. Once they’re tried it means they’ve been found guilty, virtually all the time. And then there’ll be a long delay before sentencing is handed down. For this kind of alleged crime of espionage, we’re looking at a minimum of 10 years, possibly life.”

Burton adds once the Michaels are sentenced and in prison, it will be “very hard to extract them.”

On the other hand, Burton says there’s always a possibility that a potential deal may be in the works. However, that remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, recent reports have also suggested there is some sort of plea deal in the works for Meng, but neither the U.S. nor Canada has been willing to comment.

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