Australian journalist Cheng Lei went on trial behind closed doors in Beijing, accused of illegally supplying state secrets overseas.

On Thursday, police taped off areas close to an entrance of the court, checked journalists’ IDs and asked them to move away.

Cheng, 46, was a TV anchor for Chinese state broadcaster CGTN before being detained in August 2020.

She was formally arrested a year ago, accused of illegally supplying state secrets overseas.

Cheng’s family members have said they are convinced she is innocent.

Denied entry to court

Australian ambassador to China, Graham Fletcher, was barred from entering the heavily guarded court and told reporters his country didn’t understand why Cheng Lei was being detained.

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He described his denied entry as “deeply concerning, unsatisfactory and regrettable”.

“We can have no confidence in the validity of a process which is conducted in secret”, he added.

In a statement to Reuters, he said Ms Cheng’s two children and elderly parents miss her immensely and sincerely hope to reunite with her as soon as possible.

A court official told the ambassador that the defendant is “suspected of the crime of illegally providing state secrets to a foreign country” and that the case is not open to visitors.

Uniformed police and plain-clothed security personnel were positioned outside the court.

Australia has previously raised concerns about the welfare and conditions of Ms Cheng’s detention.

At a regular news conference earlier this week, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman did not directly respond to a query on whether Australian officials could attend, but did say that Cheng’s rights would be fully guaranteed.

It is not clear when a verdict will be handed down.

This is not the first time Australia’s ambassador has been denied entry to a trial in the same court in China.

Last May, in a separate case, the ambassador was not able to attend the trial of Australian blogger Yang Hengjun, who was accused of espionage.

In August 2020, Ms Cheng disappeared from television and CGTN wiped its websites of her profile page and work.

She was born in China and moved to Australia as a child.

She then returned to the country, where she worked for CNBC in 2003 and later moved to CGTN in 2012, as a prominent business news anchor.

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