Michael Kovrig’s wife urges Canada to bring back husband home, intervene with Meng Wanzhou

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had previously accused China of arresting the two Michaels as retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Meng. (File Photos: Michael Spavor – Paektu Cultural Exchange/Facebook; Michael Kovrig – @MichaelKovrig/Twitter)

Vina Nadjibulla, the wife of Michael Kovrig who is currently detained in China, called on the Canadian government to press some action in regards to the arrest as “we are running out of time.”

In an exclusive interview with CBC, after a year and a half of fighting for her husband, Nadjibulla went public for the first time.

“The situation keeps getting more and more dire for Michael,” she said.

Kovrig and Michael Spavor were detained in China since December 2018 just days after Meng Wanzhou, deputy chairwoman of the board and chief financial officer of Chinese telecom giant, Huawei, was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Vancouver at the request of the United States. She is also the daughter of Ren Zhengfei, Huawei’s founder.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had previously accused China of arresting the two Michaels as retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Meng.

“It has been obvious since the beginning [that] this was a political decision by the Chinese government, and we deplore it,” he told reporters on Monday.

“They made those links from the very beginning and continue to put political pressure on Canada though that detention… the using of arbitrary detentions as a means to advance political goals is fully unacceptable in a world based on rules,” he added.

Despite this, the Trudeau government has refused to intervene with Meng’s extradition case, maintaining its position to wait for the hearings to conclude.

Just last week, China has formally charged Kovrig and Spavor of espionage.

Nadjibulla, in the same interview, said that the Justice Minister can act, based on a legal opinion.

“Whether the minister should act is a second question. And that is a conversation we should be having instead of hiding behind,” she said.

Toronto lawyer Brian Greenspan, who specializes in extraditions, wrote an opinion addressed to Justice Minister David Lametti, “It is clear, in my view, that that’s the law — that the [Justice] minister may intervene at this stage.”

At the same time, Nadjibulla commended Canadian officials in China for their ‘tireless’ efforts. It is just that, she thinks that more could be done.

“This is about Canada and Canadian lives that are in harm’s way. I am interested in Canada and Canadians standing up for Canadians and Canadian values,” she said.

She also added, “I’m interested in us being strong, but not antagonistic.  We cannot win a race to the bottom with China, we cannot become aggressive and confrontational because confrontation is not a strategy.”