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SYDNEY: An Australian writer detained in Beijing on espionage charges told his readers to “pursue democracy, the rule of law and freedom” in a Christmas message from prison saying that 300 interrogations had yielded no evidence.
Pro-democracy blogger Yang Hengjun, who is facing trial on espionage charges that he denies, has been unable to receive visits from his wife or family since he was arrested in January 2019 after arriving at Guangzhou Airport from New York.
Yang said in his message that after “torture, more than 300 interrogations and much verbal abuse, I am now in a place of deeper introspective and retrospective meditation,” according to his former teacher, Feng Chongyi, who lives in Sydney.
Feng also confirmed the authenticity of the message to Reuters.
Yang, 55, had disclosed in a 2011 letter to Feng that he had previously worked for China’s state security agency for a decade in Hong Kong and Washington, and left the service before moving to Australia in 1999.
He later wrote spy novels that were published in Taiwan and accumulated a large following online in China as a democracy blogger, before moving to New York.
He had denied revealing state secrets in his novels during a previous brief arrest in 2011 on suspicion of being involved in the democratic protests of the Jasmine Revolution.
Australian diplomats visited Yang on December 17, one of the few visits allowed by Chinese authorities this year.
Yang’s trial, which was to continue in January, was delayed for three months.
In the message, Yang said he was “waiting for the court” and that he still had “some confidence in the court.”
“Whether I am found guilty or not will say a lot about whether the court is governed by the rule of law or by pure absolute power,” he said in the message.
“I have great faith in humanity, in righteousness, justice and God.”
China’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said last year that it was “absolutely false” that Yang acted as a spy for Australia.
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said in October that Yang’s treatment in detention, with no family visits and limited legal representation, was not consistent with international standards.
Diplomatic relations between major trading partners Australia and China have worsened this year after Canberra called for an international investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic and Beijing imposed a series of trade retaliations.
