(Sydney) The partner of Chinese-Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who has been detained by authorities in Beijing since August 2020, has told media he is very concerned about his declining health behind bars.
Posted at 10:53 p.m.
Cheng Lei, who officiated on the Chinese public channel in English CGTN, was detained in August 2020. This mother of two children is being prosecuted by Beijing for “disclosure of state secrets abroad”.
Nick Coyle, described by Sky News Australia as M’s longtime companionme Cheng, said in an interview on Thursday that she was concerned about a “series of health issues” she faces in prison, exacerbated by food restrictions.
He added that the monthly consular visits between Mme Cheng and Australian representatives had also been suspended due to China’s very strict COVID-19 protocols.
Mme Cheng was tried in secret in March, behind closed doors, and even Australia’s ambassador to China, Graham Fletcher, was unable to enter the court to watch the proceedings.
The court postponed its verdict and the announcement of the journalist’s sentence, which could be life imprisonment.
In China, justice is subject to the Communist Party (CCP) and those prosecuted are almost systematically sentenced.
Mr Coyle, chief executive of the China-Australia Chamber of Commerce, reported Cheng Lei missing in August 2020 after going to her apartment when she did not respond to his messages.
“Everything seemed normal until I realized that all the electronics, computers, all those kinds of things, were gone and what had happened then became pretty obvious to me,” he said. said.
The journalist’s detention marked a new stage in the deterioration of relations between China and Australia.
Relations were particularly tense when Canberra called for an international investigation into the origin of the coronavirus, first detected in China at the end of 2019.
The arrest of Cheng Lei in 2020 had caused the hasty and incredible departure from China of two Australian journalists fearing in turn to be arrested.
Mr Coyle told Sky News Australia that Mrme Cheng “was not involved in politics” but may have been targeted because she was a high-profile Australian in China.