Yang Hengjun, who has spent more than four years in detention – one year longer than Cheng Lei – has always maintained his innocence to charges of espionage.
Melbourne journalist Cheng Lei’s release has given hope to loved ones that they too may return.The prime minister will visit Beijing and meet with President Xi Jinping by the end of the year.
“You don’t know how much your letter and your messages have helped me,” Cheng said in her first public words after her three-year nightmare in a Chinese prison ended on Wednesday. Cheng pleaded guilty to the charge of “providing state secrets aboard” to secure her release after a 2 year and 11-month sentence was handed down on Wednesday. The sentence took time already served into account, meaning she could be released and expelled from China immediately.
Albanese said that there was no transaction made between Australia and China to secure Cheng’s release and that her freedom was a result of China’s judicial system running its course. Yang has written several letters to his wife and children from jail, detailing allegations of torture and declaring his innocence. “If something happens with my health and I die in here, people outside won’t know the truth,” he said in August.
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