(Ottawa) Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor may have returned to Canada on September 25, after more than 1,000 days languishing behind bars in China, but their legal saga is not quite over.
This is the astonishing revelation made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, in an interview granted to the program. Power & Politics, on CBC, Wednesday evening.
“We want to make sure that we continue to champion their cause, because there are some things that haven’t been resolved yet,” she said. Earlier in the day, she had had an exchange with the two Michael’s.
They, she continued, “are out on bail right now under Chinese criminal law,” and the Trudeau government wants to make sure “that we find a solution with the Chinese government.”
The chief diplomat of Canada, who had just announced that Ottawa would not send any dignitaries to the Olympic Games in Beijing, made it a “priority” to ensure that the cause was “completely resolved”.
The day of the release of the two Michael, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had indicated that the men suspected of espionage had been released “on bail for medical reasons”.
We are therefore not talking about bail in the sense that Ottawa would have paid money to China in exchange for the release of the two Canadians, assured a government source who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak more freely.
Still, the Trudeau government had never raised this aspect in public.
“Intriguing and disturbing”
The Minister’s remarks therefore surprised Guy Saint-Jacques, former Canadian Ambassador to China. “It’s intriguing and disturbing. The question that raises is: what exactly was agreed to ensure their return to Canada? », He affirmed.
Canada does not have an extradition treaty with China, so even if Beijing wanted to hand them over, it would be doomed to failure. However, other countries, such as France, for example, have an extradition pact with China.
Especially since in the case of Michael Kovrig, no verdict has been rendered. “They could do that in absentia … I hope they did not tell Canada that he will have to come back to China for the pronouncement of his sentence,” worries Guy Saint-Jacques.
PHOTO ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
Michael kovrig
Whoever was chef de mission between 2012 and 2016 knows what he is talking about: it is he who worked to obtain the release of Kevin and Julia Garratt, these Canadians arbitrarily arrested in 2014, then accused of espionage.
The “implications” that this could have on the Michael are thus “nebulous,” says Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a China specialist at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa.
Minister Joly’s office referred the requests for clarification from Press at Global Affairs Canada, where they simply reiterated that the detention of the two men who returned home a little over two months ago was “arbitrary”.
“The Government of Canada remains committed to supporting them in their efforts to rebuild their lives and urges everyone to respect their privacy,” added ministry spokesperson Christelle Chartrand.
Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor returned to Canada on September 25th. They were released by Chinese authorities just after Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Meng Wanzhou, number two, was granted permission to return home.