OTTAWA —
Michael Spavor is thanking Canadians and the world for his or her assist one week after his 1,020-day ordeal in Chinese language jail got here to an finish.
Spavor, together with Michael Kovrig, had been launched per week in the past after the USA dropped its prosecution of Chinese language high-tech govt Meng Wanzhou.
The 2 males had been arrested and convicted of spying by China in what’s extensively seen as retaliation for the RCMP’s Dec. 1, 2018, arrest of Meng on the Vancouver airport on an American extradition warrant.
The saga got here to an finish when the U.S. entered right into a deferred prosecution settlement with Meng that resulted in costs towards her being dropped and the extradition request withdrawn in a Vancouver courtroom.
Meng, who was beneath home arrest in Vancouver in a luxurious mansion, was let loose and was on a chartered airliner again to China on the identical second as Kovrig and Spavor departed on a airplane out of China accompanied by Dominic Barton, Canada’s ambassador to the nation.
Spavor arrived in his hometown of Calgary early Saturday morning aboard a Canadian Forces Challenger jet, together with Kovrig, and the pair had been greeted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier than Kovrig made the ultimate leg of his journey to Toronto.
“I am overjoyed to be lastly reunited with my household. It is humbling as I start to know the continued assist that we have obtained from Canadians and people around the globe, thanks,” Kovrig mentioned in an announcement that was launched Friday by World Affairs Canada.
“I am appreciating being outdoors and the straightforward issues round me.”
Spavor and Kovrig spent virtually all of their time in captivity in separate prisons, a lot of it in solitary confinement.
The message included an hooked up photograph of a smiling Spavor and a big gray canine.
An announcement from World Affairs accompanying the photograph and assertion mentioned: “Right now, the household requests that you simply proceed to respect their privateness – no additional remark will likely be supplied.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Oct. 1, 2021.
