Exclusive gambling tycoon abused in Thai jail after claiming he was spying for China, lawyers say By Reuters

By Poppy McPherson and Panu Wongcha-um

BANGKOK (Reuters) – A jailed gambling tycoon fighting extradition to China received “inhumane treatment” in a Thai prison after saying he was a Chinese spy, his lawyers told Interpol, saying they fear for his life.

China-born She Zhijiang, who has Cambodian citizenship, suffered violence that left her unable to stand and received unwanted visits from Chinese officials, lawyers said in a letter to the international police organization , seen by Reuters.

The tycoon was arrested in Bangkok in 2022 on an international warrant and an Interpol red notice sought by Beijing, which accuses him of running illegal online gambling operations in Southeast Asia.

In their letter to Interpol, dated January 9 and shared with Reuters, her lawyers said he was kept in solitary confinement, shackled, denied medical treatment for a spinal injury and denied contact with his family.

The tycoon was subjected to “particularly inhumane treatment” and violations of human rights of an “institutional nature”, write the lawyers, Clara Gerard-Rodriguez and Pierre-Olivier Sur of the French firm FTMS Avocats.

“These elements lead us to seriously fear for the life of our client,” according to the lawyers, who are trying to cancel the Interpol red notice seeking extradition.

Thailand’s Ministry of Justice declined to comment, referring questions to the Department of Corrections, which did not immediately respond. Beijing’s embassy in Bangkok did not respond to an emailed request for comment or return phone calls. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of State Security could not be reached with a request for comment.

An Interpol red notice must comply with the organization’s rules, “under which activity of a political, military, religious or racial nature is strictly prohibited,” an Interpol spokesman said, declining to comment further.

TRAFFIC UNIONS

She called her detention politically motivated, telling Al Jazeera that it followed her refusal to obey orders from Chinese authorities, who she said ordered her to develop a town on the Thai-Myanmar border.

“They wanted a colony. I wanted to do business,” he told the network in a documentary broadcast on September 26.

China has stepped up pressure on Southeast Asian nations to crack down on Chinese-origin gambling and fraud rings since the cross-border kidnapping and rescue of a Chinese gamer this month sparked a firestorm. of social media.

The region in recent years has become a magnet for gambling operations, some involving fraud and human trafficking by criminal syndicates, many of which are of Chinese origin.

Days after the Al Jazeera documentary aired, she was transferred to a maximum-security prison in Bangkok that holds people serving long sentences and on death row, her lawyers said.

In late October, lawyers said: She was “brutally confronted” by officers and inmates who accused her of violating discipline. Unable to walk or stand, he now uses a wheelchair, they said. The incident was also described in a police report seen by Reuters.

Twice in December, the lawyers said, Chinese embassy officials visited Ella in prison against her will, trying to convince her to return to China. In one meeting, they said, officials suggested that his family and friends might need help from the embassy, ​​which he interpreted as a threat.

GAMBLING EMPIRE

“The flagrant abuses of process and serious human rights violations committed by China undermine international judicial cooperation and should in themselves be an obstacle to extradition,” Gerard-Rodriguez told Reuters.

Reuters could not independently verify the claims.

At the time of his arrest, he ran a gambling empire that developed a $15 billion casino, entertainment and tourism complex called Shwe Kokko on the Myanmar-Thai border. The group, Yatai International Holdings Group, also had investments in Cambodia and the Philippines.

The company has denied involvement in any criminal activity, including human trafficking.

The tycoon told Al Jazeera that he was recruited to the Philippines by China’s Ministry of State Security, the main agency that oversees foreign intelligence, in exchange for dropping a criminal case against him. to him

He said he had worked with a former Filipino mayor, Alice Guo, also known as Chinese national Guo Hua Ping. She was removed from office for misconduct and investigated by the Philippine Senate last year for potential links to offshore gambling operations targeting Chinese clients.

Guo, facing charges of embezzlement and money laundering, has denied being a Chinese spy and dismissed other charges as malice.