A 78-year-old U.S. citizen has been sentenced to life in prison in China on spying charges after the man was detained more than two years ago.
According to reports from The Hill, John Shing-Wan Leung was detained by China’s counterintelligence agency in Suzhou, a city in the east of China, on April 15, 2021, according to a post on the city’s website. The details of the charges against him were not released.
Authorities also confiscated around $70,000 of Leung’s personal property, according to the city.
The U.S. Embassy in Beijing said it was aware of the sentencing but could not comment further, according to The Associated Press.
“The Department of State has no greater priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas,” the embassy said in the emailed statement.
Leung’s sentencing comes as a number of Americans in Russia have been charged and detained on similar accusations. Most recently, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested in Russia earlier and was accused of spying. (RELATED:
Russia’s FSB Arrests Wall Street Journal Moscow Reporter For ‘Spying’)
The White House has publicly put pressure on Russia to free Gershkovich and other Americans it says are “wrongfully detained” in Russia but critics have accused the President of not prioritizing the issue.
In December, the U.S. released notorious convicted Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout in exchange for U.S. women’s basketball star Brittney Griner, detained just before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
She was convicted of drug smuggling and possession of a small amount of hashish oil and sentenced to nine years in a penal colony.
The Kremlin refused to release former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan as part of that deal. Whelan has been detained in Russia since 2018 on what many believe are trumped-up espionage charges.
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Good bravo, lets send them more spies