Canadian who was detained by China on spying charges says he experienced psychological torture

A Canadian man detained by China for more than 1,000 days said he was put into solitary confinement for months and interrogated for up to nine hours every day, treatment he said amounted to psychological torture.

Michael Kovrig, speaking to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in an interview released on Monday, also said he had missed the birth of his daughter and only met her for the first time when she was two-and-a half years old.

Michael Kovrig, right, waves to media with his wife Vina Nadjibulla, centre, and sister Ariana Botha, left, after his arrival at Pearson International Airport in Toronto in September 2021. Photo: The Canadian Press via AP

Kovrig and fellow Canadian Michael Spavor were taken into custody in December 2018 soon after Canadian police detained Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei Technologies, on a US warrant. Both men were accused of spying.

“I still carry a lot of pain around with me and that can be heavy at times,” Kovrig said in his first substantial comments since he and Spavor were released in September 2021.

Kovrig noted that United Nations guidelines say prisoners should not be put into solitary confinement for more than 15 days in a row.

“More than that is considered psychological torture. I was there for nearly six months,” said Kovrig, a former diplomat who had been working as an adviser with a think-tank when arrested.

Huawei Technology’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou. Photo: AFP

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