A former Canadian envoy whose imprisonment in China kicked off a high-profile diplomatic spat has accused Chinese authorities of inflicting “psychological torture” on him.
Michael Kovrig says he was placed in solitary confinement for months and subjected to “relentless interrogation” when he was arrested in December 2018 and held for more than 1,000 days.
The spy was interrogated?
This kind of got brushed under the rug, but you might remember that China claimed they were both spy’s. The Canadian government denied this. Then it turns out kovrig was a spy, and he was accused of using the other Michael for espionage activity without his knowledge. That Michael, spavor, sued the Canadian government. The Canadian government settled for something like 7 million.
I guess if you’re legitimately a spy, you ought to expect some kind of unpleasant interrogation as an occupational hazard if you get caught. Otherwise don’t get caught.
There are better things to have a go at China for than “they do to spies what uh, we can’t prove we don’t also do”.
Has it turned out he was a spy?
Yup https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/21/canada-intelligence-program-danger-report-china-detention and Spavor was unwittingly being used by Kovrig for information gathering.