In one of Michael Kovrig’s letters, the former Canadian diplomat describes life in a Chinese prison as a “gray, grinding monotony.” Confined to a windowless concrete cell, ten feet square, his incarceration has also been, at times, deeply traumatic.
It’s taken all his strength not to crumble. COVID-19, his wife believes, may be pushing that resolve to its limits. Kovrig has been detained for 576 days with no end in sight, an apparent pawn in a geopolitical battle over Huawei Technologies Co. and the fate of its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou. “The confinement and isolation that he was feeling has just been compounded by the pandemic and the complete cutting of visits and letters and the rest,” Vina Nadjibulla said in an interview in Toronto. “He has been stoic, but I know there are cracks.”
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.