Canadian accused of spying released on bail
A Canadian woman detained in China along with her husband on suspicion of stealing state secrets had been released on bail, the foreign ministry said yesterday.
Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Julia Garratt was released while the case remained under investigation. She and her husband Kevin were detained on August 4 by the state security bureau in Dandong , which borders North Korea.
Their detentions came amid a crackdown on Christian groups aiding North Korean refugees along the border.
Hong said both were charged with stealing secrets and spying and Kevin Garratt had been moved from residential surveillance to the more serious status of criminal detention.
"Kevin Garratt and Julia Garratt are under suspicion of undermining China's state security," Hong said. "Competent Chinese authorities will handle the case and ensure the legal rights of the two persons according to law."
The Garratts, from Vancouver, have lived in China since 1984 and since 2008 ran a popular coffee shop in Dandong and conducted Christian aid work for North Koreans. They are in their mid-fifties.
Canadian diplomats say they have had regular consular access to the Garratts and have raised their case with high-level Chinese officials.
Shortly after they were detained, one of their sons, Simeon Garratt, said he knew of "no possible scenario I can think of that makes it plausible" that his parents would be stealing state secrets about military and national defence research.
The couple worked with North Star Aid, whose website said the British Columbia-registered charity sought to help North Koreans mainly by providing humanitarian aid. Simeon Garratt said his parents made no secret of their faith but did not flaunt it in China, where proselytising is against the law.
The accusations against the couple last August came about a week after Canada accused a China-sponsored hacker of infiltrating Canada's National Research Council.
