China Sentences Canadian Businessman to 11 Years in Prison

The prosecution of Michael Spavor has been widely seen as political retaliation by China against Canada for the detention of a Chinese technology executive.

A court in China sentenced a Canadian businessman, Michael Spavor, to 11 years in prison after declaring him guilty of spying on Wednesday, deepening a split with Canada, which has condemned the case as political hostage-taking. Mr. Spavor has the right to appeal the judgment, but Chinese courts rarely overturn criminal judgments, and his fate could rest on deal-making among Beijing, Ottawa and Washington at a time when Beijing’s relations with Western powers are particularly tense. In a brief online statement, the court in Dandong, a northeast Chinese city next to North Korea where Mr. Spavor had often done business, also said that he would be deported, but gave no details about the timing.