The Canadian government has denounced the Chinese allegations as “arbitrary detention” and “hostage diplomacy” designed to force Meng’s release. China, which was outraged by Meng’s arrest in Vancouver Airport, has likened its treatment of the Canadians to self-defense and Canada to “a thief shouting to catch a thief.”
China does not have an independent judiciary, and acquittals in high-profile political cases are almost unheard of. The cases will almost certainly end in guilty convictions and lengthy prison sentences, barring high-level intervention or a quid quo pro deal that includes the U.S. dropping charges against Meng.
China announced Spavor and Kovrig’s trials on the eve of meetings between senior Chinese diplomats and Biden administration officials in Alaska on Thursday and Friday, which devolved into acrimony as the two sides accused the other of human rights violations and arrogant behavior.
President Biden spoke to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the cases last month and pledged to work with Canada on the pair’s release as he declared that “human beings are not bartering chips.” The State Department said Friday it continued to call on China to “end the arbitrary and unacceptable detentions of the Canadian citizens.”
Diplomats from Canada were denied access to the courtroom on Monday, in apparent violation of consular agreements between China and Canada. Foreign press and diplomats from nearly two dozen countries, including the United States and Britain, have also been barred from entering the building.
“We had repeatedly requested access in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and Canada’s consular agreement with China but these requests were denied,” Jim Nickel, deputy head of the Canadian embassy in Beijing, said in an email from outside the courthouse.
Canadian officials have expressed worry about other aspects of the case, including a half-year stretch when Kovrig was interrogated daily and kept in a cell with the lights on 24-hour a day.
Spavor’s closed-door trial appeared to last just two hours on Friday, with the court announcing it would not disclose a verdict until a later date.
China has ratcheted up the two Michaels’ cases in lockstep with Meng’s legal proceedings in Canada, where she is fighting extradition to the United States. U.S. authorities have accused Meng of defrauding banks to evade sanctions on Iran. Canadian officials detained her in Vancouver’s airport on Dec. 1, 2018.
Meng’s extradition hearings are entering their final phase in Canada this month. Her lawyers have argued that the executive was unfairly targeted as part of a politicized U.S. campaign to destroy Huawei, the Chinese technology giant.
Kovrig’s wife, Vina Nadjibulla, told a Canadian talk show Sunday that the only way to secure the Michaels’ release will be “concerted diplomatic effort on the part of all three governments to find a path forward.”
