Five years without answers to the family of the Canadian businessman held in the Chinese prison

Wang Yan clearly remembers the last time she heard her husband’s voice, more than five years ago.

It was on December 13, 2019, and Canadian Citizen Lee Yongoy went to a public square in Shijiajuang, in the Chinese province of Hebei, to exercise while he was talking to his wife in Canada on a mobile phone.

“Suddenly, the call ended, just as someone was holding his phone. I called the other family (in China) and no one knew what happened,” Wang recalls.

Lee was seized by the city police, who accused him in a social media position of “collecting public funds illegally” through his company Qingyidai, a platform for lending to the person to the person.

I have been in detention since then, without being tried or judged.

Now, his family takes the rare step of speaking publicly to search for a decision in his case.

Global Affairs Canada says it is aware of about 100 Canadians imprisoned in China.

However, it is uncommon for their families to speak in Canada or press decisions about their positions.

The Chinese authorities began a campaign in 2019 on the online lenders, but Wang keeps her husband’s innocence in the operation of Qingyidai, which the Chinese media described as the largest platform in Hebei.

“Of course, we think he is innocent, but if he violates some laws or rules, please put it on the trial and judge it,” Wang said in an interview with the Canadian press in Vancouver, where a family lives for me.

“We have no concerns about it … but it was the years when nothing happened.”

Wang said Lee had no visits at the Hebei detention center from anyone alongside his lawyer and employees from the Canadian embassy.

She was the daughter of me, and Wadi Li, 21 years old when her father was arrested. She regrets that “I grew up a little essentially in my great life.”

“My father has this habit for not talking about himself,” said Wandi to me. She said, “He just asked me about what is happening in my life.”

“I am the youngest of my family, so there is always this tendency to protect me a little from what is happening.”

In the response of the email to the questions, Global Affairs Canada said it was aware of Li detention and was providing consular assistance, but no additional details were issued due to privacy considerations.

The Lei family’s comments come after the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Missiani Jolie, said last month that four Canadians were recently executed by the Chinese authorities, all of whom are with dual citizenship, all of whom are accused of drug -related crimes.

Former Chinese detainees Michael Kovrij said he advised relatives of the detainees to “get a good Chinese lawyer.”

He said he would also pressure the Canadian government to defend the detainee in addition to contacting human rights organizations – but this may regain the Chinese authorities.

“I understand that there is a danger that if it pressures a decision, the court may expose a relatively harsh penalty,” he said. “What they want is repentance and recognition, and they may be ready to present a lighter sentence in exchange for that.

“It will be up to the lawyer to negotiate this.”

Kovrij and his Canadian colleague Michael Spagor were detained by China in 2018 and they were held for more than 1000 days, and they were accused of spying in the case that the Canadian government said was a tremendous effort to pressure Canada to release Meng and Wango’s executive.

Wang said she was unable to comment on the recent executions in China because she was not aware of the circumstances surrounding these cases.

But she said that her family was increasingly concerned with detention and health issues appeared. She said that her husband was suffering from high blood pressure and that his guards refused to allow him to see a dentist.

Kovrij said that Wang is not allowed to speak to her husband is consistent with what he saw from others in the Chinese seizure.

Although the circumstances may vary between the various detention centers, the Chinese facilities “usually do not meet the basic standards of Nelson Mandela’s bases of the United Nations,” referring to the minimum United Nations standards for the treatment of prisoners.

He said: “The detainees are usually limited to a cell with a limited access to an external area to move.” “Very limited access to books for reading. There are no media. There are no writing materials. Perhaps some TV in the evening.

Kovrij said that detention also means continuous monitoring, limited pigeons and “zero privacy”.

Windi told me that she is holding hope for her father’s safe return to Canada.

She said: “Our hope is that the word will wander, and I hope that more people know this. The government in China may be affected by a little more than deciding the issue and the liberation of my father.”

Wang Yan said that she was aware of the potential dangers in speaking publicly, but all she wants is the movement and certainty in her husband’s case.

“We don’t have an option,” she said.

And copied 2025 Canadian press