Australian detained in China declares 'I will fight to the end' | erykbagshaw
Australian writer Yang Hengjun is vowing to "fight to the end" after seeing his lawyers for the first time since the Chinese government detained him more than 18 months ago.
In his first comments since April last year, Yang said he would "never confess to something I haven't done" after authorities isolated and allegedly tortured him in an attempt to extract a confession on unspecified claims of espionage.Credit:The show of defiance from the Chinese-born Australian citizen comes amid the most politically charged atmosphere between Australia and China in decades and days after it was revealedon suspicion of endangering Chinese national security.
Mo Shaoping, Yang's lawyer in China, said he visited the 55-year-old in jail for the first time on Thursday. He said Yang would face a closed-door trial under the espionage charges. Under China's opaque judicial system, there is still a time limit on how long a person can be held without trial. Yang's case has been handed between Chinese state security organs and the Supreme People's Procuratorate three times since January 2019. Prosecutors now have six weeks left to mount their case.
"In the coming one and a half months, the procuratorate must decide whether it is going to prosecute to the court or not prosecute," Mo said.
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