CNN
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The US State Department stated Thursday it’s “disappointed” by a Chinese courtroom’s decision to uphold the death sentence for American citizen Mark Swidan and known as for his speedy launch.
“Today the People’s Republic of China’s Jiangmen Intermediate Court denied wrongfully detained US national Mark Swidan’s appeal, and upheld his death penalty with a two-year suspended death sentence,” State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel stated in a press release.
“We are disappointed by this decision and will continue to press for his immediate release and return to the United States,” Patel stated.
Swidan, a businessman from Texas, has been detained in China for greater than a decade since he was arrested in 2012 on drug-related fees.
He was convicted of producing and trafficking medicine in 2019 by the Jiangmen Intermediate People’s Court in southern Guangdong province and given a death sentence with a two-year reprieve.
Under Chinese legislation, the reprieve means Swidan’s sentence could also be commuted to life imprisonment after two years, topic to his conduct throughout this era.
A United Nations working group concluded in 2020 that Swidan had been arbitrarily detained in violation of worldwide legislation and urged his speedy launch.
CNN couldn’t attain the Jiangmen Intermediate People’s Court for remark.
His mom, Katherine Swidan, told CNN earlier this 12 months that her son had been detained in what she described as a “holding tank,” the place she stated he had undergone bodily and psychological torture and tried suicide.
“He’s been in there for 10 years, where they never turn the lights off, so as a result, he’s going blind. He’s got fractures in his leg,” she stated, telling CNN that guards on the facility “broke his hands five to seven times.”
“He’s suffering and he’s got an infection. He has severe periodontal disease. He has holes in his mouth that bleed constantly. He’s lost 130 pounds,” Katherine stated.
Patel, the State Department spokesperson, stated in his assertion Thursday American officers had “repeatedly expressed their concerns” to senior Chinese officers about Swidan’s “treatment, medical care, and his inability to send or receive mail in a timely manner.”
US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken “continue to remain personally focused on the release of Mark Swidan and other US nationals wrongfully detained or held hostage across the world,” Patel added.
Katherine Swidan and relations of different Americans detained by China had urged Blinken to make securing their family members’ freedom a high precedence earlier than his anticipated journey to Beijing in February. But the journey was postponed in response to the flying of a suspected Chinese spy balloon over US airspace.