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China Sentences Canadian to 11 Years on Spying Charges; Canada's PM Calls
Sentence 'Unjust'

VOA News

   Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the 11year prison sentence
   handed down by a Chinese court to businessman MichaelSpavoris
   "absolutely unacceptable and unjust."

   A court in the northeastern city of Dandong convictedSpavorWednesday on
   a charge of espionage. The verdict came nearly sixmonths
   afterSpavor'sone-day, closed-door trial that even Canadian diplomats
   were prevented from attending.

   In his written statement, Trudeau condemned the"lack of transparency in
   the legal process, and a trial that did not satisfy even the minimum
   standards required by international law."

   A statement on the court's website saidSpavorwill be deported as part
   of his sentence, but did not say when that would happen.

   Spavorwas arrested in December 2018, just days after Canadian
   authorities arrested MengWanzhou, the chief financial officer of
   China's Huawei Technologies, in Vancouver, British Columbia, on a U.S.
   warrant.

   The arrest ofSpavorand another Canadian, former diplomat Michael
   Kovrig, that same month triggered accusations from Ottawa that the two
   men were arrested in retaliation for Meng's arrest.

   Spavor'sverdict comes a day after a Chinese court upheld a death
   sentence for another Canadian, Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, who was
   convicted in 2018 for trafficking methamphetamine.Schellenberg was
   arrested in 2014 and initially sentenced to 15 years in prison, but his
   sentence was changed during a one-day retrial in 2019, shortly after
   Meng's arrest.

   Meng remains under house arrest in Vancouver as she fights the
   extradition warrant from the U.S. As chief financial officer of Huawei
   -- one of the world's largest manufacturers of smartphones -- Meng is
   accused of lying to U.S. officials about Huawei's business in Iran,
   which is under U.S. sanctions.

   The U.S. has also warned other countries against using Huawei-built
   products, suspecting the Chinese government of installing spyware in
   them.

   Some information for this report came from the Associated Press,
   Reuters and AFP.

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