Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin Photo: mfa.gov.cn

The Beijing No.2 Intermediate People’s Court publicly pronounced the first-instance verdict on the espionage case of Australian national Yang Jun, in accordance with the law in which Yang was found guilty of espionage and was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve and all his personal property was confiscated, FM spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Monday.

The Second Branch of the People's Procuratorate of the Beijing Municipality initiated the prosecution against Yang, a Chinese-born Australian writer also known as Yang Hengjun, to the Beijing No.2 Intermediate People’s Court on October 7, 2020.

The court strictly handled the case in accordance with the law, fully safeguarding Yang's litigation rights, respecting and ensuring the Australian side’s consular rights, including the right to consular visits and notifications, and arranged for the Australian side to sit in on the sentencing, Wang said. 

As state secrets are involved, the trial of Yang's case in May, 2021 was not heard in public or attended by the public according to law. In response to Australian media's hype of the case, the Chinese Foreign Ministry also noted that China firmly opposed to Australia's gross unjustifiable interference in its handling of the case and its judicial sovereignty. 

The Chinese Embassy in Australia also stressed on Monday that the court heard the trial in strict accordance with the law and ensured that Yang fully exercised his procedural rights, respected and ensured the Australian side’s consular rights, including the right to consular visits and notifications, and arranged for the Australian side to sit in on the sentencing.

Global Times