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BEIJING – China’s Foreign Ministry says a Canadian woman detained with her husband on suspicion of stealing state secrets has been released on bail.
Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Thursday that Julia Garratt was released while the case remains under investigation. She and her husband Kevin were detained on Aug. 4 by the state security bureau in China’s northeastern city of Dandong, which borders North Korea.
Hong said both have been charged with stealing secrets and spying and Kevin Garratt has been moved from residential surveillance to the more serious status of criminal detention.
The couple from Vancouver have lived in China since 1984 and opened a popular coffee shop in Dandong in 2008. The Canadian Embassy in Beijing referred questions about the case to spokesmen in Ottawa.