(Ottawa) Sustaining the idea that either Michael was involved in espionage “only fuels the unfounded theory that they were detained by China,” the government says in response to an article published in the Globe and Mail.
According to what was reported by Globe and Mail in his Saturday edition, Michael Spavor demands several million dollars from the Canadian government, to which he attributes part of the responsibility for his long detention in China.
The Toronto lawyer he allegedly retained, John Kingman Phillips, alleges that he was arrested by Chinese authorities because he discussed the North Korean regime with Michael Kovrig – information that was passed to the Canadian government and to his Five Eyes partners.
Without wanting to confirm that legal steps had been taken by Michael Spavor to obtain compensation, Global Affairs Canada reiterated Monday that the imprisonment of the “two Michaels” was “arbitrary and unacceptable”.
“By perpetuating the idea that either Michael was involved in espionage activities, we are only fueling the unfounded theory that they were detained by China,” John also said. Babcock, spokesperson for the Ministry.
“Since their release, the Government of Canada has been committed to supporting them so that they can rebuild their lives after this difficult ordeal. Both men are free to speak about their experiences of arbitrary detention in China,” he added.
The Ministry of Justice did not want to comment. “As a general rule, we do not comment on ongoing legal cases,” wrote Chantalle Aubertin, Minister Arif Virani’s press secretary, in an email sent Monday.
Information transmitted by Kovrig?
The “two Michaels,” against whom Beijing filed espionage charges, were detained for more than 1,000 days in China. They were arrested in December 2018, a few days after the arrest, in Canada, of Huawei’s financial director, Meng Wanzhou, at the request of the United States.
During their detention, they underwent long and painful interrogations. During one of these sessions, Michael Spavor admitted that he had transmitted information to Michael Kovrig, again according to a source cited by the Globe and Mail.
At the time of the alleged events, Michael Kovrig worked as a diplomat in the Global Security Reporting Program of Global Affairs Canada. The objective of this program is to collect information on the security situation in countries of strategic interest to Canada.
As for his companion in misfortune, he had privileged access to North Korea: in 2018, he helped plan the meeting between leader Kim Jong-un and basketball player Dennis Rodman, at which he also participated in.
The lawyer allegedly hired by Michael Spavor represented Omar Khadr, who spent 10 years behind bars at the American prison at Guantanamo Bay, and whom the Harper government had refused to repatriate for years. In 2017, he received $10.5 million in compensation from Ottawa.
In the case of the “two Michaels”, the Trudeau government has always maintained that these were arbitrary detentions, and worked hard to bring them back to the country. The Canadians finally returned in September 2021, shortly after Meng Wanzhou’s release.
The Chinese government has always denied that the two men were arbitrarily detained.
Michael Spavor’s lawyer did not provide a reaction to the information published in the Globe and Mail.
For his part, Michael Kovrig told the Toronto daily that he was “a foreign service officer posted to China as a diplomat, working in accordance with the laws, rules and regulations governing diplomats.”