February 5 (UPI) — Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said a Beijing court on Monday handed down a suspended death sentence to Australian author Yang Hengjun, nearly five years after he was detained in China on national security charges. .
Mr Wong confirmed the suspended sentence in a statement, saying the Australian government understood that Mr Yang’s sentence could be commuted to life imprisonment if he did not commit any serious crimes within the next two years.
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“This is devastating news for Dr. Yang, his family and everyone who supported him,” she said.
Yang, a novelist, blogger, former Chinese diplomat, and outspoken critic of the Beijing government, was detained in China in January 2019. U.S. officials said Yang was formally arrested in August of that year and held incommunicado for several months before being charged with the crime two months later. spy.
His private trial is scheduled for May 27, 2021, and was announced Monday after repeated postponements, Australian officials said.
“This has been an extremely difficult time and, like many Australians, I am touched by Dr Yang’s strength and the strength of his family and friends,” Mr Wong said.
He said the Australian government has consistently supported Mr Yang at the highest levels of the Chinese government and will continue to “pursue Mr Yang’s interests and well-being, including appropriate medical treatment, and provide consular assistance to him and his family.” We will provide it.”
“We have no intention of slowing down our advocacy efforts,” she said.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin confirmed the verdict on Monday, saying he had been found guilty of espionage and that Beijing’s Second Intermediate People’s Court had sentenced him to death, suspended for two years, and ordered the confiscation of his personal property. . This was reported by the tabloid Global Times.
Australia has repeatedly raised concerns about Yang’s detention and health, and called on Chinese authorities to explain the charges against him and immediately release him.
When the start date for the closed trial was announced in May 2021, then-Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Mr Yang would not be able to visit his family and access to legal representation would be limited or delayed. He said there was.
The United States’ 2020 Country Report on Human Rights Practices with China said Yang was interrogated more than 300 times “for four to five hours at a time, day and night.”
“After arbitrary detention, torture, and an unfair trial, this heavy sentence is alarming,” Maya Wang, Human Rights Watch’s interim China director, said on Broadcast X on Monday.
“What’s even more outrageous is that Mr. Yang could have been punished for being a China critic.”
Liberal Australian MPs described Mr Yang’s ruling as a way to intimidate defenders of democracy and free speech.
“The fate of Dr. Yang Hengjun is important to all of us,” he said in a statement on X. “Securing his freedom must be a red line.”
Yang’s arrest is believed to be in retaliation for Ottawa’s arrest of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, but Asian countries have also arrested Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor on national security charges. He was arrested a month after his arrest.
Spavor and Kovrig were released in September 2021, shortly after Canada released Meng.