– A shock. This is how Jørgen Wikne (27) describes his first meeting with his mother in over six years. It happened at the end of April this year. The former China manager of the Norwegian salmon giant SalMar, Yimin Dong, was then behind a glass wall. The place was the women’s prison in Guangdong, southern China. The 58-year-old Norwegian citizen has been confined here since March 2018. She has been convicted of having smuggled Norwegian salmon into China via Vietnam. Now the family is asking for the sentence to be transferred to Norway. For Jørgen Wikne was alarmed by his mother’s state of health. The Paralyzed – That her health had gradually deteriorated was something I knew from the letters we had written to each other. It was still a shock, he tells news. Jørgen Wikne on his way to visit his mother in Chinese prison in April this year. Photo: Private For Yimin Dong had paralysis in both arms and legs. The cause was cervical spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal canal in the neck. The most common symptoms are difficulty walking. In addition, reduced fine motor skills in the hands and paralysis in the arms and legs. Yimin Dong had trouble grasping. No feeling in fingers on right hand. Feeling in the heel of both legs was gone. Both arms and legs had greatly reduced sensation and steering difficulties. She complained of numbness. Had a feeling of electric shocks when touched. – In the meetings we had, I saw that she moved very slowly and carefully, and with some difficulty. She told us about a lack of feeling and control in her arms and legs, says the son. So this was in April and May. And it was going to get worse. Inextricably linked to SalMar Yimin Dong came from China to Norway as an exchange student in the 80s. She met Bjørn Wikne at the University of Bergen. They married and had Jørgen together in 1997. Dong, who was now a Norwegian citizen, began selling salmon in the growing Chinese market. She eventually became inextricably linked to SalMar. The company is listed on the stock exchange and the world’s second largest breeder of Atlantic salmon. Yimin Dong was a success and the main reason why SalMar captured large market shares in China. Profit margins were better than in any other market. SalMar’s Asia director, Geir Wærø, was obviously pleased. At the seafood fair in Beijing in 2017, he presented Yimin Dong as SalMar’s new China manager. Yimin Dong and SalMar’s Asia director, Geir Wærø, worked closely together. Here from one of the superseller’s many visits to Frøya, where SalMar has its head office Photo: Private But that’s how narrow it was. Just one year later. Brutal sentence on 27 March 2018. They were eight men who came from the police. Yimin Dong was arrested while staying in the city of Xiamen. The police seized all electronic equipment. Computers, memory sticks, notebooks and mobile phones. Yimin Dong was placed in the Guangzhou Detention Center No. 1. The sentence in the Guangdong People’s Court was brutal: 14 years in prison. The Chinese thought she was the spider and the main player in a large smuggling network. The claim was that Norwegian salmon was smuggled into China via Vietnam in large quantities. This must have happened during the period when Norwegian manufacturers were in practice banned from China due to the peace prize awarded to the regime critic Liu Xiaobo. In the appeal case, the sentence was reduced to 13 years. Since then, the Norwegian woman has served time under harsh conditions. Norwegian Yimin Dong has served 6.5 years in this prison. She is seriously ill and wants to be transferred to Norway. Who is telling the truth? There is currently no contact between the Wikne/Dong family and SalMar. The Norwegian salmon giant says that Yimin Dong has operated on his own. SalMar says that the company is not aware of or has been involved in the illegal export to China. – It is Yimin’s company that we have always invoiced and dealt with. We have not had anything to do with her resale, said strategy director Runar Sivertsen at SalMar to news this winter. Strategy director Runar Sivertsen at SalMar Photo: SalMar In a letter to which news has access, Yimin Dong claims the opposite. “If SalMar claims that they did not know what happened and that it was just my operation without their consent, it is a pure lie,” writes the imprisoned woman. Read more about the smuggling case here: The golden girl who was imprisoned and dumped by SalMar Will she die in prison? – The situation can be perceived as hopeless. In my quiet mind I have sometimes been afraid that one day she will die in there, says Jørgen Wikne to news. Both he and his father have visited Yimin in prison. They describe prison conditions that are very demanding. – We work and study eight to nine hours a day, six days a week, says Bjørn Wikne. Bjørn Wikne has applied to the Ministry of Justice for a sentence transfer for his wife, Yimin Dong Photo: Bjørn Olav Nordahl / news – The work consists of assembling small parts for appliances. They sit side by side along a table. The work is monotonous and with little opportunity to change sitting position. There are breaks at precisely fixed times. Yimin shares a cell with 16 others. Breathing difficulties At the beginning of August something happens. Yimin is now in such bad condition that she is sent to the hospital for examination. The specialist sees dramatic changes. Among other things, he finds a large edema affecting the spinal cord high up in the neck. It leads to paralysis in the arms and legs and, in the worst case, breathing difficulties. And the need for a respirator. – The doctor described the condition as very serious. He recommended surgery. The earlier, the better, says Bjørn Wikne. No guarantees On Friday 23 August this year, Yimin Dong will be put under the knife. The doctor’s preliminary examinations reveal several conditions, in addition to calcification of the neck vertebrae and pressure on the spinal cord. Yimin Dong has gallstones and impaired liver function. The question is how she will function after the operation. The doctor cannot guarantee that Yimin will have mobility in her legs and arms when she wakes up. – We had to sign several documents where we accepted the risk of the operation. We also had to sign that we could not hold the hospital responsible if something went wrong, says Bjørn Wikne. Bjørn Wikne had to sign several papers before the operation. Here the consent form. Photo: Private Sentence transfer – I think it should be reasonable that Yimin Dong is now transferred to Norway so that she can serve her sentence here, insists Rasmus Hansson. He is a parliamentary representative for MDG and has followed the case for a long time. Hansson believes Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre should and can raise this with the Chinese authorities when he visits the country shortly. The MDG politician is now sending written questions to the foreign minister about this. – This will be a humane solution for a Norwegian citizen, who may also be innocently convicted. It is fairly obvious that the Norwegian authorities should contribute to this. Low, polite voice He recalls the considerable effort Norway made to bring home Joshua French and Tjostolv Moland from the DR Congo. Rasmus Hansson (MDG) asks the Prime Minister to take up Yimin Dong’s case when he visits China soon. Photo: Ingeborg Undheim / news – The very passive position the Norwegian authorities have taken in this matter stands in striking contrast to what happened then. It is difficult to see factual reasons why Norway was so much more active in bringing home French and Moland than they are in helping Yimin Dong. – This is part of a long pattern of a strikingly low, polite voice towards China. For Norwegian citizens, it is important to know that our authorities treat people equally and stand up for everyone, Hansson insists. Should have happened earlier Tonje Okkenhaug Johansen is a senior physician at St. Olav’s in Trondheim and a specialist in Yimin Dong’s diagnosis. She has read all the medical reports related to Yimin Dong. She emphasizes that it is difficult to comment on the degree of severity without having examined the patient herself. But the experienced surgeon is clear that it was absolutely necessary for Yimin Dong to undergo surgery. Everything indicates that this should have happened at a much earlier time. Tonje Okkenhaug Johansen is one of the country’s foremost experts on Yimin Dong’s diagnosis. The senior doctor at St. Olav’s strongly recommends a sentence transfer to Norway. Photo: Sverre Lilleeng / news – It will take a long time before we know how much function Yimin regains, up to a year. It’s hard to predict how good she can be. The main aim of the operation is to stop a negative development. There is still hope for some improvement if she receives proper rehabilitation. Full support for sentence transfer – In Norway, she would have been offered a stay at a rehabilitation unit with special expertise in spinal cord injuries. There is a multidisciplinary team that maps function both in arms and legs, but also other functions such as bladder and bowel. A tailored training program is then created, explains Okkenhaug Johansen. – The family has now applied for a sentence transfer. What do you think about it? – This is fully supported. As Yimin’s condition is described, it will require great resources to provide her with the same rehabilitation offer that she would have received in Norway. Too much to ask for? Jørgen Wikne is both happy and worried. The joy is linked to the fact that the mother actually had mobility in both her arms and legs when she woke up after the operation. – It was really a great relief. But the concern weighs accordingly. – I now primarily want her to get the medical help and follow-up she needs. And that her health does not deteriorate again when we finally have some good news. The 27-year-old adds: – I sincerely hope that the plans for a sentence transfer to Norway can be realized, that my mother will not have to sit there for another six and a half years. – I myself believe that it is not too much to ask for. Hello! We are currently working a lot on matters concerning the farming industry. Do you have tips for us, or know something about the industry that you think we should know or check out? Feel free to send us an email! Alternatively, you can call us on 95.22.30.63. You can use the same number on the encrypted Signal app. Published 02.09.2024, at 09.42
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SalMar’s super seller seriously ill in Chinese prison – news Dokumentar
