Beijing court gives writer suspended death sentence
The Foreign Ministry said on Monday that writer Yang Hengjun, also known as Yang Jun, is guilty of espionage and was given the death sentence with a two-year suspension. A Beijing court handed the Chinese-born Australian citizen a suspended death sentence, "in an espionage case in accordance with the law". "It found that Yang Jun was guilty of espionage, sentenced him to death with a two-year suspended execution, and confiscated all his personal property," Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said. The ministry added China had allowed the "Australian side to sit in on the sentencing". "The Australian government is appalled at this outcome," Australia's Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, told a news conference in Canberra after the sentence was handed down. "We will be communicating our response in the strongest terms," she added. (Reuters/AFP)