The case against Australian-Chinese author Yang Hengjun, who has been detained by the Chinese government for more than two years on charges of espionage, began in Beijing on Thursday.
He told reporters waiting at the main gate that the authorities had refused to let him in on the grounds of an epidemic, and that court staff had told him that the Chinese Foreign Ministry had informed him earlier that Australian officials were not allowed to attend the trial because it involved national security. He criticized the lack of transparency in the process of handling cases in the mainland, describing the authorities as arbitrary detention of Yang Hengjun.
Yang Hengjun, 56, was arrested in January when he entered Guangzhou with his family on suspicion of engaging in criminal activities against China’s national security, and was subsequently charged with espionage and faces 10 years or more in prison.
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