SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian author Yang Hengjun will not appeal his suspended death sentence in China, his family said in a statement on Wednesday.
Yang, a pro-democracy blogger and spy novelist, is a Chinese-born Australian national who worked in New York until his arrest at Guangzhou airport in 2019.
This month, a Beijing court shocked his family and supporters by giving Yang a suspended death sentence on espionage charges after five years in Beijing detention and three years after a closed-door trial.
The ruling was described as an “outrage” by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and threatens the recent restoration of bilateral relations between China and Canberra following years of tension.
Yang’s Australian-based family, including his two sons and close friends, said in a statement Wednesday that Yang has decided to waive his legal right to appeal his suspended death sentence. announced.
In a statement released to Reuters and other media outlets, it said there was no reason to believe that Chinese courts could correct the “unjustness of his sentence.” The conviction rate in Chinese courts is 99.9%, and acquittals are rare.
The report noted that Mr. Yang had developed severe kidney disease and said, “After five years of inhumane treatment and gross medical neglect, even after launching an appeal, he has not received adequate supervision.” It only delays the possibility of medical care,” he added.
“Mr. Yang’s decision to suspend the appeal process does not change the fact that he is innocent and morally uncompromising,” the family said.
China’s Foreign Ministry has previously said a court in Beijing heard the case strictly in accordance with Chinese law, ensuring Yang’s procedural rights and Australia’s consular rights.
A suspended death sentence in China gives the defendant a two-year suspension of execution, after which the sentence automatically transitions to life imprisonment.
His family called on the Australian government to grant him medical parole or extradition to Australia.
Details of the case have not been officially released, but Mr Yang’s longtime friend and Sydney-based academic Feng Chongyi said in a judgment read out in court that Mr Yang provided secrets to Taiwan in 1994. He said he was claiming.
Starting in 1989, Yang worked for China’s Ministry of State Security in Hong Kong and Washington for 10 years before retiring and moving to Australia.
“The absurdity of the 30-year-old espionage charges trumped up against him shows that prosecutors were unable to extract any confession,” the family said in their first comment on the case. Ta.
Mr Yang is an “Australian political prisoner sentenced to death for his writings supporting individual freedom, constitutional democracy and the rule of law”, authorities said.
Yang is a well-known blogger who writes about Chinese and U.S. politics and was a visiting scholar at Columbia University.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement to Reuters that Australia continues to defend Mr Yang.
“The Australian Government understands and respects the difficult decision Dr Yang has made regarding his appeal,” she said.
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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