The family of a Canadian man being held in a Chinese jail is pleading with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to have the 52-year-old businessman returned home.
Jimmy Chen Jian Yuan, of Mississauga, has been detained in China for 18 months on charges of fraud.
"My husband is my everything," his wife Jian Ping Yang said at a press conference in Toronto on Wednesday.
"We lived together for 26 years. In the past 18 months, I cannot sleep, cannot eat."
Chen and his family came to Canada from China in 1994 seeking a better life. Chen started a company that imported electronics manufactured in China by a large Chinese company.
His wife said the business relationship broke down in 2004, resulting in various civil lawsuits in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. In October 2006, Chen was invited to go to China to discuss resolution of the civil case.
When he arrived, he was immediately arrested without explanation, his family said.
Jian said she hasn't been able to speak with her husband since his incarceration. She said the Chinese company he dealt with brought forward the charges of fraud over $2 million. The offence is in connection to disputed Canadian assets.
Chen's lawyer said his client has told Chinese authorities and the company involved that they can keep the disputed money, he just wants to go home.
"We have stepped back and we've put up the white flag and still we have not received any indication that he's going to be released," lawyer Courtney Betty said at a press conference.
Chen has been tried on the fraud charge, but he is still awaiting a verdict. If found guilty, his family believes he could be sentenced to death.
Chen's daughter was the first in her father's family to graduate from university, but she was devastated because her father could not be there for her graduation.
"That's something that I will regret for the rest of my life," Yan Chen said through tears. "I really hope he can come back soon and be with us so that we can be complete."
Chen's family is asking Harper and the International Olympic Committee to issue a formal request to the Chinese government for his release.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Austin Delaney
