'We're gonna get you home': Michael Kovrig's former bandmates strike a chord for his freedom
Share
TORONTO -
A musical campaign for former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig’s release from a Chinese prison is gaining support.
Long before Kovrig went into the diplomatic service, he was the frontman for the Budapest-based band named Bankrupt, who recently released a song called "The Plane to Toronto" to raise awareness about his plight.
“We wanted to capture this moment when he’s finally free and heading home to Toronto on the plane,” Balazs Sarkadi, the band’s singer and bass player, told CTV News on Wednesday.
Kovrig was arrested in China along with Canadian Michael Spavor in December 2018. Both men were charged with espionage and put on trial this year.
Concerned about the potential outcome of the trial and his years of imprisonment, the band wants to try and garner more support to help get Kovrig released by crowdsourcing a video to go with the song.
“We really wanted some positive sense and positive energy to get people to show some solidarity towards him,” Sarkadi said.
“Hold on, please, we’re gonna get you home,” he sings in the catchy pop song. “It’s been a long time, but you’ve never been alone. You’ve gotta know bad times won’t last forever. In no time, I know, you’ll be on the plane to Toronto.”
Response to the song has been good, Sarkadi said Thursday. And the band hopes to release the video in the coming weeks.
Sept. 4 will mark the 1,000-day anniversary of Kovrig’s imprisonment.
His arrest came shortly after Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Shenzhen, China-based Huawei, was detained in Vancouver on a U.S. Justice Department request in December 2018.
Meng is wanted on allegations that she misled The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC) about Huawei's relationship with another company, putting the bank at risk of violating American sanctions against Iran. The final weeks of the U.S. extradition hearings are now underway in Vancouver. Huawei and Meng, who is free to move about while under house arrest in her mansion in the city, deny any wrongdoing.
In the meantime, Kovrig, who faces a possible life sentence, remains in prison.
Sarkadi said he was shocked when he found out Kovrig, who played with the band from 1996 to 1999, was arrested.
The friends kept in touch over the years while Kovrig studied, became a diplomat and then went on to work with the International Crisis Group, with whom he was working when he was arrested in Beijing.
In fact, Kovrig visited Budapest in 2017, and even joined his former bandmates on stage for a song.
“It was a very nice reunion,” Sarkadi said. “He’s a really cool guy, doing everyday stuff.”
But Sarkadi misses his friend and wants people to try and encourage the government to help Kovrig.
Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau was not available to comment on the matter on Thursday.
Grantly Franklin, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, said the release of Kovrig and Spavor remains a priority.
“We have always been very clear that Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor are being unjustly and arbitrarily detained,” Franklin said. “We continue to call on China to immediately release both men. Canada continues to provide consular support to Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor and their families during this unacceptable ordeal.”
Vina Nadjibulla, Kovrig’s wife, said she’s grateful for the band’s initiative.
“Michael loves music,” she said. “It's been a big part of his life and he continues to rely on song lyrics as part of his resilience routine even now.
“But as important as solidarity efforts are, our main focus must remain on actions that will lead to his liberation and calling on the Canadian government, in particular, to do everything possible to bring him home.”
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
The lawyer representing child-killer Allan Schoenborn walked out of his client's annual review hearing Wednesday – abruptly ending proceedings marked by tense exchanges and several outbursts.
The driver of a pickup truck was airlifted to hospital after a head-on collision with a school bus outside Mission on Wednesday afternoon, according to authorities.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
It took four years in court, but a group of Eastern Slope ranchers will finally get access to thousands of pages of documents outlining when and how the province decided to tear up 44 years of coal policy.
Talk of transitioning federal buildings into housing has been in the works for a couple of years and it's a move that business leaders in Ottawa say can't come soon enough.
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
In the latest example of the confusion surrounding Quebec's new language law, the education ministry has confirmed that a presentation delivered only in French to English-speaking parents last week could have been done in English after all.
Quebec's police watchdog has opened an investigation into a Montreal police (SPVM) intervention in the Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough that ended with one person seriously injured.
In at least a couple of ways, it's fitting the Edmonton Oilers will be the Arizona Coyotes' final opponent before the Desert Dogs shed their Kachina-styled uniforms for whatever hues and themes may await them in Salt Lake City.
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
A Celebrity Apex cruise to the Caribbean this month turned into a rocking Newfoundland kitchen party when hundreds of people from Canada's easternmost province happened to be booked on the same ship.
A Winnipeg man is raising a red flag after his landlord said no to health-care equipment that could change his life – a problem he believes is a human rights issue.
A motion filed by the man accused of killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg to have one of those murder charges quashed has been dismissed by the judge – weeks before the start of his trial.
After two days of negotiations, the province has presented the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) a final offer, which will go to members for a vote.
A Regina man who says he was given two hours to vacate the seniors' home he lived in after being evicted should not have been forced to move in the first place.
The Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) conference wrapped up on Wednesday with educational sessions in the morning, followed by a bear pit session for delegates to speak directly with the provincial government.
The Waterloo Region Police Services Board wants to explore new ways of dealing with an annual unsanctioned St. Patrick’s Day street party in Waterloo’s University District.
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
After two days of negotiations, the province has presented the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) a final offer, which will go to members for a vote.
A former girlfriend of a murder suspect in Sudbury testified Wednesday that he talked about his role in the deaths a day after a firebombing that killed three people.
It’s not every day that a new washroom becomes the talk of the town. But in the Lake Huron tourist community of Grand Bend a new so-called smart washroom has many residents and business owners flush with joy.
Tim Hortons Roll Up The Rim contest may be in hot water yet again after several customers received emails falsely congratulating them on winning the Tracker boat worth nearly $60,000.
Parents of children with learning disabilities are seeking 'certainty' on the long-term status of a program that provides tailored special education support in language and math within schools.
The British Columbia government is encouraging anglers to pack their tackle boxes and head out to a remote lake on Vancouver Island as the province attempts to eradicate an invasive population of sport fish.
B.C.'s police watchdog has finished its investigation into an incident on Vancouver Island, concluding the actions of officers weren't connected to a man's death.
Nurses held a rally Wednesday at a hospital in the B.C. Interior that closed its emergency department more than a dozen times last year due to insufficient staff.
British Columbia is planning to add 240 new units to its complex-care housing program, providing homes for people with mental-health and addictions challenges that overlap with other serious conditions.
More than 80 residents from a low-income apartment building in Kelowna, B.C., have learned they won't be able to return to their homes for at least another two weeks.
A Celebrity Apex cruise to the Caribbean this month turned into a rocking Newfoundland kitchen party when hundreds of people from Canada's easternmost province happened to be booked on the same ship.
A pricing agreement has been reached between crab fishers and seafood processors that will allow for Newfoundland and Labrador's annual crab fishery to get started.
Longliners across Newfoundland and Labrador are tied up once again, as a new protest by the province's fish harvesters threatens to derail the crab fishery for a second straight year.
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.
While many people choose to keep their medical appointments private, four longtime friends decided to undergo vasectomies as a group in B.C.'s Lower Mainland.
A Sudbury woman said her husband was bringing the recycling out to the curb Wednesday night when he had to make a 'mad dash' inside after seeing a bear.
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
In their 2024 budget, the federal government wants to amend the Canada Labour Code, so employers in federally regulated sectors will eliminate work-related communication with employees outside of scheduled hours. If implemented, this would affect roughly 500,000 employees across the country.
Advocacy groups across Canada are expressing widespread disappointment about the amount of funding earmarked in the 2024 federal budget for the long-awaited Canada Disability Benefit.
Public Health Ontario workers say the potential closure of six laboratories across the province would be dangerous and increase inequity in northern Ontario.
California regulators voted Wednesday to establish a drinking water limit on hexavalent chromium, a toxic chemical compound made infamous by the movie 'Erin Brockovich.'
More than 5,500 years ago, two women were tied up and probably buried alive in a ritual sacrifice, using a form of torture associated today with the Italian Mafia, according to an analysis of skeletons discovered at an archeological site in southwest France.
An experimental error led a team of scientists researching bumblebees to make a startling discovery: the insects’ remarkable ability to survive underwater for up to a week.
The Sundance Film Festival may not always call Park City, Utah, home. The Sundance Institute has started to explore the possibility of other U.S. locations to host the independent film festival starting in 2027, the organization said Wednesday.
A National Public Radio editor who wrote an essay criticizing his employer for promoting liberal views resigned on Wednesday, attacking NPR's new CEO on the way out.
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Boeing was the subject of dual Senate hearings Wednesday as Congress examined allegations of major safety failures at the embattled aircraft manufacturer, which has been pushed into crisis mode since a door-plug panel blew off a 737 Max jetliner during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
A Celebrity Apex cruise to the Caribbean this month turned into a rocking Newfoundland kitchen party when hundreds of people from Canada's easternmost province happened to be booked on the same ship.
Caitlin Clark's salary compared to top National Basketball Association players is drawing attention to Women's National Basketball Association players' pay and the often massive gender gap in professional sports salaries. The highest-paid WNBA player made a US$242,000 salary, while the league minimum salary in the NBA is over a million dollars in 2023.
Former football star and celebrity criminal defendant O.J. Simpson was cremated Wednesday, the lawyer handling his estate said following his death last week at home in Las Vegas at age 76.
Tesla will ask shareholders to reinstate a US$55 billion compensation package for CEO Elon Musk that was rejected by a judge in Delaware this year and to move the electric car maker's corporate home from Delaware to Texas.
Tesla has hit a series of roadblocks, including increased competition and declining sales. The company announced Monday it is slashing 10 per cent of its global workforce.
A driver from London will have to find alternative transportation after an OPP officer clocked them travelling nearly 200 km/h on Highway 401 over the weekend.