Writer Yang Jun sentenced to suspended death sentence in China, Australia appalled. Australian writer and academic Yang Jun, imprisoned in China since 2019 for espionage charges that he disputes.
This conviction, which was not immediately confirmed by Beijing, comes at a time when Sino-Australian relations appeared to be improving. Yang Jun is the author of a series of spy novels as well as a popular Chinese-language blog. He claimed in May 2021 that he had been tortured at an undisclosed location during his detention, fearing that a forced confession would be used.