Supporters of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor mark 1,000 days of detention in China
- Kovrig and Spavor were detained in what critics labelled ‘hostage politics’ after Canada arrested Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou on a US extradition request
- Kovrig, a Canadian diplomat, and Spavor, an entrepreneur, have been convicted of spying in closed Chinese courts
As two Canadians mark 1,000 days in separate Chinese prisons, their supporters are marching Ottawa to push for their freedom.
Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were detained in China in what critics labelled “hostage politics” after Canada arrested the chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co. in 2018 on a US extradition request.
The arrest of Meng Wanzhou infuriated Beijing, which sees her case as a political move designed to prevent China’s rise. The US accuses Huawei of using a Hong Kong shell company called Skycom to sell equipment to Iran in violation of US sanctions.
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Kovrig, a Canadian diplomat on leave to an international organisation, and Spavor, an entrepreneur, were arrested in apparent retaliation. Both have since been convicted of spying in closed Chinese courts – a process that Canada and dozens of allies say amounts to arbitrary detention.
The men’s relatives and supporters are pushing for some sort of political resolution that could bring them home. And they were marching on Sunday to make their point.
The march was intended to replicate the 7,000 steps that Kovrig has tried to walk every day in his cramped jail cell to maintain his physical and mental well-being.
“It’s an extremely difficult milestone, but one that we want to mark in this way, in part, to honour the strength and resilience that Michael and Michael Spavor have shown,″ Kovrig’s wife Vina Nadjibulla said.