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Australian journalist Cheng Lei went on trial behind closed doorways in Beijing, accused of illegally supplying state secrets and techniques abroad.
On Thursday, police taped off areas near an entrance of the courtroom, checked journalists’ IDs and requested them to maneuver away.
Cheng, 46, was a TV anchor for Chinese language state broadcaster CGTN earlier than being detained in August 2020.
She was formally arrested a yr in the past, accused of illegally supplying state secrets and techniques abroad.
Cheng’s relations have mentioned they’re satisfied she is harmless.
Denied entry to courtroom
Australian ambassador to China, Graham Fletcher, was barred from getting into the closely guarded courtroom and instructed reporters his nation did not perceive why Cheng Lei was being detained.
He described his denied entry as “deeply regarding, unsatisfactory and regrettable”.
“We will haven’t any confidence within the validity of a course of which is carried out in secret”, he added.
In a press release to Reuters, he mentioned Ms Cheng’s two kids and aged mother and father miss her immensely and sincerely hope to reunite along with her as quickly as potential.
A courtroom official instructed the ambassador that the defendant is “suspected of the crime of illegally offering state secrets and techniques to a international nation” and that the case isn’t open to guests.
Uniformed police and plain-clothed safety personnel had been positioned exterior the courtroom.
Australia has beforehand raised issues in regards to the welfare and situations of Ms Cheng’s detention.
At a daily information convention earlier this week, a Chinese language international ministry spokesman didn’t straight reply to a question on whether or not Australian officers might attend, however did say that Cheng’s rights can be totally assured.
It isn’t clear when a verdict can be handed down.
This isn’t the primary time Australia’s ambassador has been denied entry to a trial in the identical courtroom in China.
Final Could, in a separate case, the ambassador was not in a position to attend the trial of Australian blogger Yang Hengjun, who was accused of espionage.
In August 2020, Ms Cheng disappeared from tv and CGTN wiped its web sites of her profile web page and work.
She was born in China and moved to Australia as a baby.
She then returned to the nation, the place she labored for CNBC in 2003 and later moved to CGTN in 2012, as a outstanding enterprise information anchor.
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