Michael Kovrig reflects on ‘brutal’ Chinese detentions: ‘He’s completely alone’ – National
Canadian Michael Kovrig and his girlfriend were on their way home from dinner on Dec. 10, 2018.
They lived in Beijing, where Kovrig, a former ambassador, worked at an international private mental institution. When they took the last steps to their house, they were in a hurry.
“I was caught by about a dozen men dressed in black. They put me in a car and took me to a dark secret prison and continued to interrogate me without stopping and locked me in solitary confinement,” he told Global News, discussing his arrest and the consequences.
The talk of a sit-down comes three years after he was released following 1,019 days in Chinese custody. Now Kovrig is sharing his story for the first time, including details of his two-and-a-half-year imprisonment and meeting his daughter after his release.
He talked about finding strength in the letters and cards he received from ordinary Canadians, and warned Canada and its allies about the need to take foreign interference seriously.
“Detention and isolation that is very difficult, psychologically difficult, coupled with an interrogation method designed to not release information because it was clear from the beginning that they were looking for something they could use,” Kovrig. said.
“They were trying to hurt me and make me angry and brainwash me into accepting their narrative and confessing to crimes I never committed.”
The ‘Two Michaels’ became known around the world following their arrest by Beijing in 2018 on China’s most reprehensible espionage claims.
The Canadian government said Kovrig and Spavor were political pawns, wrongly arrested for the arrest of Chinese tech giant Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver at the request of the United States.
Chinese courts convicted both men of the most serious charges in separate cases but after nearly three years, Meng’s extradition case was dropped and he was allowed to return to China on September 24, 2021. Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were released a few hours later.
“It’s been a busy few years, I’m both caught up professionally, but most importantly, healing and taking care of my family, meeting my friends again, walking around, finding everyone who worked on that problem and helped me find it. they returned to freedom and I thank them personally,” said Kovrig.
“People forget when a person is kidnapped or imprisoned or something like this happens, it is not difficult for the person who is arrested, it is brutal for the family who are facing all kinds of uncertainty and pain and sorrow because of that as well as my loved ones. he needed a lot of help to recover,” he said.
Kovrig spent months in solitary confinement. He said he relies on Buddhist philosophy, yoga and exercise to cope with adversity. He said he also sang many of Leonard Cohen’s songs to himself to break the silence, and often shared song titles and lyrics through letters and visiting embassies.
“I created a routine … because the hardest thing is when you’re in a situation like this, you’re completely alone,” she said.
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“Sometimes they would leave me alone for three or four days with no one to talk to, so that when that time is over you want to talk to the interrogators because you are terribly lonely.“
Being a father in prison
While in solitary confinement, Kovrig’s partner at the time gave birth to their daughter, Clara.
Being a father is what gave him strength and hope in dark times.
“I just tried to live every moment with the feeling that I’m going to get out of here and I’m going to take care of my daughter and nothing is going to stop me,” said Kovrig.
Michael Kovrig and his daughter Clara, who was born after his arrest.
Image provided
The first time he met Clara, she was two and a half years old.
“That first meeting with him was one of the happiest moments of my life.”
Kovrig said the most important thing for him since his release is being a father and building a relationship with his daughter.
“We connected quickly and really, really quickly and we have a strong connection now.”
The public inquiry into foreign interference is investigating allegations of meddling in Canada’s last two elections – and China has been one of the countries at the center of the allegations.
Kovrig said that “not enough is being done” to deal with such threats in the first place because the threat they pose was not yet seen by many as a problem in Canada.
“I think we were skeptical about the possibility of influence and disruption in other countries because we haven’t had to deal with it much before,” he said.
“I think a lot needs to be done, especially with a political party that is not used to thinking in terms of national security and not responding that way.”
Kovrig said Canada needs to do better.
“I think we need to strengthen and be serious about issues of national security,” he said.
“We need to be more vigilant about things like this to ensure that foreign influence and interference is not possible in Canada and that the perpetrators are dealt with.”
Before his arrest and work with the think tank, Kovrig worked as a diplomat at the Canadian embassy in Beijing from 2014 to 2016.
He then took unpaid leave to join the International Crisis Group, an international non-governmental organization.
When asked if he would ever consider returning to China, Kovrig said “it would be hard to imagine,” but he hopes to return one day.
“I would be happy to have the opportunity to go back,” he said.
“I have great respect and I am interested in many things about China as a country, its people, most of whom I have always worked very well with. I have many friends there. Delicious food, possibly the best in the world, interesting culture and many other things to visit.”
Speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said she had “many conversations” with Kovrig, saying he “went through hell.”
Joly said there are lessons to be learned from the arrest of the ‘Two Michaels’ and that Canada will never accept its citizens to be used as “pawns” in politics.
“We wanted to make sure we could learn from what he and Michael Spavor went through,” he told reporters.
“When it comes to any kind of detention without reason, we do not accept it. Of course, we will always protect our citizens as it was for the two Michaels. “
