China News Service, Toronto, August 19 (Reporter Yu Ruidong) 991 days after the Meng Wanzhou incident, his extradition trial ended on August 18 in the High Court of British Columbia, Canada in Vancouver.

The court is expected to make a decision whether to extradite Meng Wanzhou to the United States within a few months.

  The court has set a date for the final round of hearings until August 20.

But after both the prosecution and the defense concluded their submissions, all court hearings ended two days in advance.

  The extradition process for Meng Wanzhou, vice chairman and chief financial officer of Huawei, has lasted for more than two years.

Meng Wanzhou himself participated in all the hearings.

  Meng Wanzhou’s defense lawyer team believed that there was a problem of “procedural abuse” in the incident and defended it from four branches.

These include: the incident was politically driven, law enforcement officers had illegal detentions, major omissions and misrepresentations in the records of the U.S. program, and the U.S. prosecution violated customary international law.

The defense held that Meng’s charter rights were violated due to procedural abuse; the only remedy to correct the damage caused by procedural abuse is to suspend the extradition procedure.

The defense asked the court to consider the cumulative impact of the abuse of several branches of the procedure, and to leave Meng Wanzhou free.

  In the final session of the trial that started recently, the defense believed that there was no causal relationship between Meng Wanzhou’s presentation slides (PPT) to HSBC personnel in Hong Kong in 2013 and any losses allegedly suffered by HSBC.

There was no deception in this case, no loss was caused, and no reasonable risk causality was discussed.

  The prosecution lawyer representing the United States and the Canadian Department of Justice insisted that Meng’s PPT was “misleading and dishonest” regarding the relationship between Huawei and Skycom and its business in Iran.

The prosecution believes that the US charges against Meng are valid; and the extradition court only needs to discuss whether the case meets the conditions for extradition, rather than conducting a "trial".

  Heather Holmes, the Deputy Chief Justice of the High Court of British Columbia, who presided over the case, once asked the prosecution lawyer in court: “As far as the facts are concerned, people will see one that did not cause actual harm after many years. Isn’t this unusual?"

  The court plans to hold a management meeting on October 21, at which time it is possible to agree on a date for announcing the extradition judgment.

  If the presiding judge makes an extradition verdict in the future, the case will be handed over to the Canadian Minister of Justice to decide whether to sign a transfer order.

If the Minister of Justice approves the extradition, lawyer Meng Wanzhou can still appeal.

The Canadian legal profession believes that if the case enters into a lengthy appeal process, it may continue for several more years.

  Huawei Canada issued a statement on the 18th that Huawei has always believed that Meng Wanzhou is innocent and believes in the Canadian judicial system.

Huawei has always supported Meng Wanzhou in seeking justice and freedom, and it still does.

  On December 1, 2018, Canada detained Meng Wanzhou, who was transiting at Vancouver International Airport, at the request of the United States.

The media disclosed the case on December 5.

Afterwards, the court granted Meng Wanzhou bail with conditions including bail of 10 million Canadian dollars.

  The relationship between China and Canada has taken a turn for the worse due to the Meng Wanzhou incident.

China has made solemn representations with the United States and Canada, expressing firm opposition and strong protest against this serious violation of human rights.

  On January 29, 2019, the United States formally proposed to Canada to extradite Meng Wanzhou.

On March 1, the Canadian Ministry of Justice issued an order to authorize the extradition case.

In late January 2020, the first phase of the formal hearing of Meng Wanzhou’s extradition case began, and the prosecution and defense fought over whether the case met the “dual criminality” standard.

The court ruled on May 27 that the extradition case of Meng Wanzhou met the "double criminality" standard.

From late October to mid-December 2020, the court conducted multiple rounds of hearings. The prosecution and the defense conducted cross-examination of 11 witnesses regarding whether there was any procedural abuse by law enforcement agencies.

From early March to August 2021, the court will conduct trials on the four branches of procedural abuse, judicial remedies, and the adequacy of evidence.

(Finish)