26 Diplomats rally for Canadian’s  China “spy” trial

Diplomats from 26 countries gathered in front of the court in Beijing on Monday morning for the trial of Michael Kovrig, imprisoned for more than two years in China for “espionage”.

The trial takes place three days after that of his compatriot Michael Spavor in Dandong (northeast China), which ended in just over two hours without the sentence being made public.

The two men were arrested in December 2018 shortly after the arrest in Canada of  the head of the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, at the request of the United States.

Ottawa accuses Beijing of having arrested its two citizens in retaliation. China denies it.

As in the first trial on Friday, representatives of the Canadian embassy in China were denied access.

An official at Beijing’s No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court, where Michael Kovrig is being tried, told the press that there can be no public because it is a case related to “national security.”

“We are very concerned about this denial of access and the lack of transparency of the entire judicial process,” said the Canadian embassy charge d’affaires Jim Nickel after he was denied access to court shortly after 9:00 a.m. (the scheduled time for the start of the trial.

He thanked the presence of diplomats from 26 countries, including those from Germany, the United States, France and the United Kingdom.