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China gives Yang Jun, dual Australian national and dissident writer, suspended death sentence for espionage
Beijing — Chinese-Australian dissident writer Yang Jun was Monday handed a suspended death sentence for espionage in China, Beijing said, five years after he was detained on a rare visit to his homeland.
The Chinese-born Australian citizen has been in jail since 2019 on spying allegations and is said to be in ill health.
Yang found guilty of spying
The writer, whose pen name is Yang Hengjun, has denied the allegations, telling supporters he was tortured at a secret detention site and that he feared forced confessions may be used against him.
His sentencing is one of China’s heaviest in a public trial for espionage in years.
Yang, who gained a huge following in exile for his spy novels and calls for greater freedom in his homeland, was sentenced by a Beijing court Monday “in an espionage case,” the foreign ministry said.
“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.
Australia “appalled at this outcome”
Canberra has condemned the death sentence, which it said could be commuted to life in jail after a period of two years, during which time Yang would remain imprisoned.
PEDRO PARDO/AFP/Getty
“The Australian government is appalled at this outcome,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong told a news conference. “We will be communicating our response in the strongest terms.”
Wong said the Chinese ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, would be summoned to hear the government’s objection.
“I want to acknowledge the acute distress that Dr. Yang and his family will be feeling today, coming after years of uncertainty,” she said.
Yang’s verdict and sentence had been repeatedly delayed since his closed-door trial on national security charges in May 2021, she said, adding that Canberra had consistently called for “basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment.”
“Australia will not relent in advocacy for justice for Dr. Yang’s interests and wellbeing including appropriate medical treatment,” the minister said. “All Australians want to see Dr. Yang reunited with his family.”
China and Australia’s strained ties
The suspended death sentence will be seen as a setback in Australia-China relations, which had appeared to be warming.
Australian journalist Cheng Lei was released in October after more than three years’ detention on espionage charges widely seen as politically motivated.
Yang’s friends said last year that he feared he would die in jail without proper medical treatment because of a cyst growing on his kidney.
“If something happens with my health and I die in here, people outside won’t know the truth,” he said in a note shared with friends and supporters. “If something happens to me, who can speak for me?”
Human Rights Watch also condemned the “catastrophic” sentencing.
“After years of arbitrary detention, allegations of torture, a closed and unfair trial without access to his own choice of lawyers — a sentence as severe as this is alarming,” Human Rights Watch’s Australia director Daniela Gavshon said.
Tension between Canberra and Beijing mounted in 2018 when Australia excluded the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from its 5G network.
Then in 2020, Australia called for an international investigation into the origins of COVID-19 — an action China saw as politically motivated.
In response, Beijing slapped high tariffs on key Australian exports, including barley, beef and wine, while halting its coal imports.
Most of those tariffs have been lifted under the current center-left government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who made a breakthrough trip to Beijing in November 2023, hailing progress as “unquestionably very positive.”
Tension remains, however, when it comes to security, as Australia draws closer to the United States in an effort to blunt China’s expanding influence in the South Pacific region.
What started out as a college romance ended in murder and mystery.
1994 – Scott Peterson and Laci Rocha met in 1994 while both were attending college at California Polytechnic State University. They married two years later. In 2002, Laci became pregnant. The two lived in Modesto, California and planned to raise their unborn son Conner there.
Laci Peterson Missing
December 24, 2002 – Scott Peterson says that on Christmas Eve morning, he left his pregnant wife alone to go fishing about 90 miles away at the Berkeley Marina. He says that Laci planned to walk the couple’s dog, McKenzie, and mop the kitchen floor. When Scott returned home hours later, he says he found McKenzie there alone, still wearing a leash – but no sign of Laci. That evening, Laci’s stepfather called the police to report her missing.
Searching for Laci
Family, friends, and volunteers launched a huge search for Laci Peterson.
Scott Peterson was interviewed by police in the early hours of Christmas Day. Now-retired Modesto Police Detective Jon Buehler says Scott didn’t seem as interested as one would expect. “Oftentimes, a victim who’s left behind is firing tons of questions at us … And we didn’t get any of that from him,” Buehler told “48 Hours.”
Amber Frey
December 30, 2002 – Less than a week after Laci Peterson went missing, Modesto detectives raced over to investigate an intriguing lead: a Fresno massage therapist named Amber Frey revealed that she had been dating Scott Peterson for over a month. She told police that Peterson had lied to her and said he was single.
Secret Recordings
Former Detective Buehler notes, “Her recall was fantastic. It was almost like it was a script from a Hallmark TV show or something.” Amber Frey recalled every detail of their romantic dates, down to what they were wearing. Hoping for clues that might lead them to the missing woman, detectives ask Frey to record phone calls between her and Scott Peterson, and she agrees.
Affair Revealed
January 24, 2003 – In an explosive press conference one month after Laci Peterson goes missing, Amber Frey publicly reveals her affair with Scott Peterson. “I am very sorry for Laci’s family and the pain that this has caused them,” she said. “And I pray for her safe return, as well.”
Prior to Frey going public, Peterson had told her in a recorded call that he was in Paris when he was really in Modesto while the search for Laci was still on. Eventually Scott admitted to her, “I’ve lied to you that I’ve been traveling.” Those recorded calls would later become part of a damning case against Peterson.
Bodies Found
April 13 and 14, 2003 – Two bodies are found on the shores of the San Francisco Bay. They are later identified as Laci Peterson and her unborn child. The two bodies were found about a mile apart.
Scott Peterson Arrested
April 18, 2003 – Authorities caught up with Scott Peterson at a golf course in San Diego and arrested him. Authorities found a wad of cash, his brother’s ID card, and multiple cell phones inside the vehicle. Days later, Peterson pleaded not guilty to two counts of capital murder.
Trial and Error
June 1, 2004 – Scott Peterson’s trial begins in San Mateo County, California. Because of massive publicity the trial was moved from Modesto to Redwood City, in San Mateo County. The decision was made because the judge decided it would be difficult for Peterson to get a fair trial too close to home, where emotions were running high.
High Suspicions
August 10, 2004 – In what many consider a major turning point of the trial, Amber Frey took the stand for the first time to tell the jury about her relationship with Scott Peterson, a secretly married man, and about all the lies he told her. Frey painted a picture of a dishonest man who could tell falsehoods with ease, hurting his credibility.
Jurors heard the lies for themselves in those recorded phone calls Frey made.
Justice for Laci and Conner
November 12, 2004 – Scott Peterson was found guilty of first-degree murder for the death of his wife Laci and second-degree murder for the death of his unborn son Conner. Crowds outside cheer.
Peterson Jurors
March 16, 2005 – Four months after his conviction, Scott Peterson is sentenced to death. At a press conference, Juror No. 7, Richelle Nice, [pictured center] called Peterson a “jerk” and commented “San Quentin is your new home,” referring to the prison where he would serve his sentence. Nice was nicknamed “Strawberry Shortcake” during the trial because of her hair color.
Death Sentence Overturned
August 24, 2020 – After two appeals, Scott Peterson’s death sentence was overturned by the California Supreme Court after deciding that the original trial judge made a mistake when jurors were being picked for trial. The result of that mistake, Peterson’s supporters say, was that the jury was stacked with pro death penalty jurors. Peterson, shown here in 2018, will now receive a new trial for only the sentence phase.
The court upheld his murder convictions.
Juror No. 7
October 14, 2020 – The California Supreme Court orders a lower court to reexamine Peterson’s murder convictions and decide if he should get an entire new trial. Scott Peterson’s supporters say it all comes down to the actions of that juror once nicknamed “Strawberry Shortcake” – Richelle Nice, pictured here in 2005.
During jury selection, prospective jurors filled out a questionnaire asking if they had in the past been in a lawsuit and if they had been crime victims. Nice checked no. “It’s pretty clear… that she lied to us straight to our face about her own situation,” Peterson’s current attorney Pat Harris told “48 Hours.” In fact, Nice was involved in two domestic disputes in the past. But prosecutors say when Nice filled out that questionnaire she didn’t lie, she just didn’t think her past experiences were relevant to the questions and didn’t see herself as a victim. Now a lower court will consider if Peterson will get a complete retrial. Richelle Nice declined to speak with “48 Hours.”
New Evidence?
March 7, 2021 – CBS News’ Jonathan Vigliotti interviewed Scott Peterson’s sister-in-law Janey Peterson in her “war room” of evidence she claims proves his innocence. She claims witnesses saw Laci walking in the neighborhood near the Peterson home after the time Scott said he left for the fishing trip. If that’s true, Scott couldn’t have killed Laci.
Scott Peterson’s attorney explains, “there’s been a lot of criticism because we didn’t call some witnesses who saw Laci that day,” and that the thought process at the time was that “a number of the witnesses who saw her didn’t have great – memories or had contra – were contradicting each other.”
Retired detective Jon Buehler says there are no witnesses who saw Laci alive that morning. He says there were other young women in the neighborhood who were pregnant and looked similar to Laci, and that “it would be real easy for somebody to mistakenly see one of those three girls as being Laci.” Still, Janey Peterson insists that Scott is innocent.
A Burglary
Perhaps more important to a new defense case is what Janey Peterson believes actually happened to Laci. She points to a burglary she believes happened on the same day Laci disappeared, right across the street from the Peterson home. Scott Peterson’s supporters theorize that Laci confronted the burglars and that ended badly. But police quickly arrested the burglars – Steven Todd and Donald Pearce – pictured here in a 2003 Modesto Police Department press release.
Awaiting a Decision
April 27, 2021 – Scott Peterson appeared in court remotely for a status hearing on a new death penalty trial.
Dec. 8, 2021: Scott Peterson was resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the deaths of his wife and unborn child.
2024: The Los Angeles Innocence Project took up Peterson’s fight for a new trial. Since then, a California judge has granted his defense team access to previously undisclosed evidence as well as permission to do additional DNA testing.
Peterson and his supporters maintain the wrong man is in prison for Laci and Conner’s deaths. According to Detective Buehler, “Well, I guess it’s possible. But you know, there’s still people that believe the Earth is flat too.”
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