Spavor appeals spying conviction
Canadian sentenced to 11-year jail term
Michael Spavor has appealed his spying conviction in China, according to a person familiar with the matter, in a case diplomatically entwined with U.S. efforts to extradite a top Huawei Technologies Co.
Spavor filed the appeal Monday against the conviction and 11-year prison sentence, said the person, who asked not to be identified as they were unauthorized to speak with media. In China, an appeal is essentially a retrial, the person said.
Spavor, who organized trips to North Korea, was jailed for stealing and illegally providing state secrets to other countries in mid-august.
A court said in a statement he would be deported, without specifying whether that would happen before or after his sentence was completed.
China’s criminal law says an appeal has to be filed within 10 days, counting from the second day after the sentence is received. Cases are usually reviewed by a higher-level court, which in Spavor’s case means it could be handled at Liaoning High People’s Court.
After the verdict was announced by Dandong Intermediate People’s Court in northeastern China, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the action as “absolutely unacceptable and unjust.”
Spavor’s detention and that of Michael Kovrig, a Hong Kong-based analyst at the International Crisis Group and former Canadian diplomat, has fuelled criticism of China’s use of “hostage diplomacy,” something Beijing denies.
Both Spavor and Kovrig have been held in isolation and have had little contact with Canadian diplomats since they were first imprisoned in December 2018.
Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou’s fate is still undecided in Canada, with her hearing on extradition to the U.S. ending last week in Vancouver.
B.C. Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes said the next hearing will be on Oct. 21, when she will likely indicate a date for her decision on both the extradition to the United States and the abuse of process arguments made by Meng’s lawyers.
Even if the judge commits Meng for surrender, the final decision on extradition lies with the federal justice minister.
Meng has been under house arrest in a multimillion-dollar home in Vancouver since her arrest in December 2018.
Before the extradition hearing, Meng’s lawyers made four abuse of process claims, including that the Huawei executive was unlawfully detained when she was arrested at the airport, that there was political interference by then-u.s. president Donald Trump and that the American government summarized evidence and omitted other information in an effort to establish a case of fraud.