Ambassador barred from Beijing spy trial of Australian journalist Cheng Lei
A Chinese court has deferred its verdict after the closed-door national security trial of the Australian journalist Cheng Lei lasted less than a day.
Foreign journalists and diplomats, including Australia’s ambassador, were denied entry to the courtroom on Thursday as Cheng, a former anchor for the Chinese state TV broadcaster CGTN, faced trial on charges of “illegally supplying state secrets overseas”.
The Australian foreign minister, Marise Payne, confirmed that the court had deferred its verdict, adding: “The Australian government respects the sovereignty of China’s legal system. However, Ms Cheng’s case has lacked transparency and the Australian government has never been provided with details of the charges.”
Cheng has been incarcerated for 19 months since she was detained in 2020, in a move by authorities that shocked observers, friends and colleagues. She was formally arrested in February 2021 on “suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas” but no further details were provided. Cheng’s family have said she is innocent.
China’s judicial system has a conviction rate of more than 99%. National security trials are often conducted quickly and in secret, with verdicts and sentences announced unpredictably, sometimes months after trial.
The charge Cheng is facing usually carries a sentence of five-10 years but, depending on how severe the court deems the accusation, she could receive any term – from time served, to life in prison.
Outside the No 2 intermediate people’s court in Beijing earlier on Thursday, uniformed and plain-clothed police officers had roped off the entrance and checked the identification of journalists before moving them away, reporters at the scene said.
A court official told the Australian ambassador in Beijing, Graham Fletcher, that he could not be admitted because the case involved “state secrets” so the trial could not be public.
“This is deeply concerning, unsatisfactory and regrettable,” Fletcher said. “We can have no confidence in the validity of a process which is conducted in secret.”
Payne also expressed concern at the decision to bar Fletcher. “The continuing lack of transparency is concerning and further undermines confidence,” she said. “Since Ms Cheng was detained in August 2020, the Australian government has consistently stated the fundamental importance of procedural fairness, basic standards of justice and China’s international legal obligations.”
Immediately after Cheng’s arrest, she was held in “residential surveillance at a designated location” for six months, a coercive form of isolated detention, during which detainees are denied access to lawyers and family and are at risk of ill-treatment or potentially torture, according to human rights groups.
Human Rights Watch described Cheng’s detention as arbitrary and “absolutely chilling”.
“With unpredictable access to consular officials or lawyers of her choice, she is at risk of ill-treatment,” said Sophie McNeill, HRW Australia researcher. “She is not the only Australian wrongfully detained; writer Yang Hengjun has been held for more than three years. To increase pressure on the Chinese government, the Australian government should build a coalition with other governments whose citizens are wrongfully detained in China.”
Payne has repeatedly expressed concern over Cheng’s detention, prosecution and the lack of transparency, saying the government had seen no evidence of the charge against her.
She said Australian representatives had been able to meet Cheng as recently as Monday.
Cheng, who was born in China but moved to Australia and acquired citizenship, has two children, 12 and 10, who were visiting their grandmother in Melbourne at the time of her arrest. “Her two children and elderly parents miss her immensely and sincerely hope to reunite with her as soon as possible,” Cheng’s family said in a statement provided to Reuters.
Cheng was detained amid worsening diplomatic relations between Australia and China, with Beijing angered by Australian foreign interference laws and calls for an independent inquiry into the origins of Covid-19. There has been speculation that Cheng’s detention was politically motivated.
Weeks before Cheng was arrested, Australian authorities had raided the homes of Australian-based Chinese state media workers as part of a foreign interference investigation.
In December 2020, the Bloomberg News journalist Haze Fan was detained on unspecified allegations of endangering national security. Fan, a Chinese national and friend of Cheng, remains in detention.