‘TIME FOR US TO TAKE ACTION’
WIFE MAKES PLEA FOR RELEASE OF TWO MICHAELS HELD BY CHINA
The wife of Michael Kovrig says he is a pawn in a geopolitical game and is urging the government to bring him home from his jail cell in China.
Kovrig and Michael Spavor have been detained by China for more than 550 days. They were arrested after Canada detained high-tech scion Meng Wanzhou days earlier.
In an interview with the CBC, Vina Nadjibulla said it was within the power of the minister of justice to end the extradition of Meng.
“The minister (of justice) can act. Whether the minister should act is a second question. And that is a conversation we should be having instead of hiding behind,” she said.
“There’s a lot of people who sort of say that we need to stand up to China and we need to be tough on China. I’m not one of them. I’m not one of them because this is not about China. This is about Canada and Canadian lives that are in harm’s way. I am interested in Canada and Canadians standing up for Canadians and Canadian values.
“We as Canadians, as a Canadian government, have to take action to bring him home.”
Nadjibulla said there were times she got “angry and frustrated” and it was heartbreaking to think of her husband languishing in a single cell.
“Basically he has been confined to a single cell this entire time. He has not gone outside. He has not seen a tree or had fresh air to breathe for 560 days,” she told the broadcaster.
“I’m interested in us being strong, but not antagonistic. We cannot win a race to the bottom with China, we cannot become aggressive and confrontational because confrontation is not a strategy.
“They are pawns in this geopolitical game and it’s time for us to take action. Words are no longer enough.”
On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Chinese officials made clear in the days following the arrests of Kovrig and Spavor that their imprisonments were linked to Meng.
Trudeau was rebutting a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry who said earlier Monday that his country did not arbitrarily detain people, and that Trudeau’s earlier remarks linking the cases were “irresponsible.”
Trudeau doubled down, saying Chinese officials highlighted an “obvious link” between the arrests of the two Canadians and the RCMP’S arrest of Meng at the Vancouver airport in response to an extradition request from the United States. Meng was arrested on Dec. 1, 2018, and Kovrig and Spavor were taken into custody nine days later.
“They made those links from the very beginning, and continue to put political pressure on Canada through that detention,” Trudeau said Monday.
“It has been obvious from the beginning that this was a political decision made by the Chinese government, and we deplore it, and have from the very beginning.”
Trudeau thanked allies, including the United States, that had criticized China for “using arbitrary detentions as a means to political ends.” He said Canada and its allies “around the world” remain united against this Chinese practice.
Earlier Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on China to release the Canadians, saying they faced “groundless” charges of spying.
“These charges are politically motivated and completely groundless. The United States stands with Canada in calling on Beijing for the immediate release of the two men and rejects the use of these unjustified detentions to coerce Canada,” Pompeo said in a statement.
“Additionally, we echo Canada’s call for immediate consular access to its two citizens, in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, as China has prohibited such access for almost six months, and the world has no knowledge of the two Canadians’ condition.”
Chinese authorities announced the charges against Kovrig and Spavor on Friday, after the two had spent more than 550 days in prison without access to lawyers or family. Since January, China has prevented Canadian diplomats from visiting Kovrig and Spavor, citing COVID-19 restrictions.
Trudeau rejected suggestions that Canada should intervene to resolve the Meng case in an attempt to free Kovrig and Spavor.
“We continue to stand up both for the independence of our judicial system and Canadian interests and values,” the prime minister said. “We work behind the scenes and in public to ensure that everyone understands we will continue to work extremely hard to get these Canadians home.”
Garnett Genuis, the Conservative critic on Canada-china Relations, was critical of former Liberal cabinet minister John Manley and Eddie Goldenberg, a former aide to Jean Chrétien, for advocating for a prisoner exchange to free Kovrig and Spavor.
“Conservatives continue to call on Justin Trudeau to respect the independence of Canada’s judicial system and reject this position by senior Liberal insiders,” said Genuis.
Meng, the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, is living in a luxury Vancouver home while her extradition case wends its way through a B.C. court.
The U.S. wants to prosecute Meng for fraud, alleging she lied to banks about her company’s connections with Iran.