Sydney, March 31, (dpa/GNA) – The trial of Australian journalist, Cheng Lei, who is accused of espionage, began on Thursday in Beijing.
Canberra’s ambassador to China, Graham Fletcher, was denied access to the trial, according to media reports.
Fletcher told journalists outside Beijing’s No 2 Intermediate People’s Courthouse, that Chinese officials blocked him from accessing Cheng’s trial.
“We have no confidence in the validity of a process which is conducted in secret,” Fletcher was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.
“We have no information about the charges or allegations against Ms Cheng. That is part of the reason why we are so concerned we have no basis on which to understand why she has been detained,” he added.
Cheng, a Chinese-born Australian news anchor for Chinese state broadcaster CGTN, was initially detained in August 2020 on suspicion of endangering national security.
She was formally arrested over a year ago. after six months of detention, on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas.
If found guilty, she could face up to a life sentence.
Canberra had been notified that Cheng’s trial would start on Thursday, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said last week.
“The Australian government has regularly raised serious concerns about Ms Cheng’s welfare and conditions of detention,” Payne said in a statement at the time, adding that the Canberra government expected “basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment to be met.”
Payne also said Canberra had requested that Australian officials be allowed to attend Cheng’s hearing “in line with China’s obligations under the Australia-China bilateral consular agreement.”
A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that Cheng Lei would have a “closed trial” and that “the verdict would be supplied at the suitable time,” adding that Australia should not get involved and respect the independence of China’s courts.
Journalist organizations had called for her release, also citing doubts about the fairness of the trial.
In a survey of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (FCCC) in January, 99% of journalists interviewed in China said that the working conditions are not up to international standards.
A refusal to grant visas, constant surveillance intimidation, harassment and state-sponsored online bullying campaigns were cited as regular issues.
Along with Cheng Lei, a Chinese employee of the news agency Bloomberg has also been incarcerated for a year now, also on the basis of nothing more than vague suggestions of threats to state security.
GNA