China has closed the trial of the second arbitrarily detained Canadian, while once again denying consular access to the hearing, a move which an expert says is a violation of consular agreement. Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat, faced a closed-door trial on Monday on charges of “spying into state secrets and intelligence” for foreign entities, said Beijing’s No. 2 Intermediate Court in a statement. The court said a verdict would be issued at a later date. Kovrig’s hearing follows the first trial on March 19 for Michael Spavor, a Canadian businessman who also faced similar charges of espionage. The intermediate People’s Court of Dandong in China’s Liaoning Province, where Spavor was tried, also did not announce a verdict. China has denied Canadian consular access to both trials for the “two Michaels,” which is a clear breach of the Canada-China Consular Agreement, according to Donald Clarke, a Chinese law specialist …
Read More
RSS Feed | The Epoch Times
