Former Chinese official denounces torture in Xi Jinping regime prison, fears death sentence

The Sino-Australian writer Yang hengjun, arrested in 2019 in China and tried last week behind closed doors for espionage, He defended his total innocence before the judge and denounced having been tortured, He explained himself in a message sent to his relatives while awaiting his conviction.

The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court has indefinitely postponed the announcement of the sentencing of Yang Hengjun, who He could face the death penalty on espionage charges, which have not been clarified by Chinese authorities.

After last Thursday’s hearing, Yang, a former Chinese Foreign Ministry official, conveyed a message to his relatives and supporters, to which the Australian press had access, assuring that he was only a writer which promotes “the rule of law, democracy and freedom”.

The 56-year-old novelist explained that he met the judge on Monday, before the hearing, and requested that the tapes be excluded from his interrogation on the grounds that they are illegal since they were obtained under “torture” and with hidden cameras, according to the letter the Sydney Morning Herald had access to.

Yang was also held in solitary confinement, a form of informal detention without customary legal representation in China against dissidents and critics for six months in 2019, and Australia has complained on several occasions about the conditions in which he was being held.

Yang’s legal defense previously denounced that Chinese authorities tortured him to force a confession and that he was detained for several months in an unknown location “without fresh air or natural light”, while Beijing assures him that he was detained for several months. guarantees its rights and warned Australia to respect its judicial sovereignty.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian assured last year that all of Yang’s rights were guaranteed, dismissing charges of torture, a technique banned in the Asian country.

The court that tried Yang last week denied access to the trial to Australian Ambassador to China Graham Fletcher, who explained that the excuse the court used was the pandemic situation, as the ministry Foreign Affairs had previously informed him that the hearing would be closed as it was a trial that included national security issues.

Yang, who was born in China and later obtained Australian citizenship, was residing with his family in New York when, in early 2019, he was arrested in the Chinese city of Canton while making a layover en route to Australia.

Besides Yang, China is taking into custody the Sino-Australian presenter of the state television channel CGTN Cheng Lei, whom she detained in August last year and officially arrested in March this year “because ‘she was suspected of providing state secrets abroad’.

Australia and China are going through a difficult period in their relations, with tensions not only diplomatic, but also trade.

(with EFE information)

KEEP READING: