The government of Canada has reached a financial settlement with one of two Canadian men it contends were arbitrarily detained for nearly three years by China in a retaliatory move, the man’s lawyer said.
John K. Phillips, who represents Michael Spavor, told The Associated Press Wednesday evening that “I am only able to say that the matter between Mr. Spavor and the government of Canada has been resolved.”
Mr. Spavor, a businessman who had extensive dealings in North Korea, and Michael Kovrig, then a Canadian diplomat who was on leave and working for a Belgium-based foreign policy analysis group, were arrested in China in December 2018. They were charged with spying.
Their detentions in separate prisons was, Canadian officials contended, retribution for Canada’s arrest of Meng Wanzhou, then the chief financial officer of the Chinese technology giant Huawei. That arrest was made at the request of the United States.
China released the two men in September 2021 after U.S. Justice Department concluded an agreement that allowed Ms. Meng to return to China in exchange for admitting wrongdoing in a fraud case.
