LYON, France: The wife of the former Interpol president who is being detained in China on bribery charges says she has been contacted by Chinese diplomats, who have told her they’re holding a letter from him for her.
Grace Meng says, however, that she’ll only agree to meet Chinese officials if a lawyer and reporters are present. She says Chinese officials haven’t responded since she told them of that condition.
She says she also asked that the letter from her husband, Meng Hongwei, be given to French police, so they can give it to her. She is living under French police protection in Lyon, where Interpol is headquartered, since she reported her husband went missing while on a trip to China in late September.
“They said my husband wrote a letter to me,” she said in an interview Friday with The Associated Press in Lyon. “They said they can only give it to me alone.”
Meng said the disappearance and suspected slaying of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, wasn’t a factor in her refusal to meet unaccompanied with Chinese officials. However, she made clear that she finds them impossible to trust.
China says Meng Hongwei, 64, is under investigation for graft and possibly other crimes.
Meng was China’s vice minister of public security while also leading Interpol, and a longtime Communist Party insider with decades of experience in China’s sprawling security apparatus. He appears to be the latest high-ranking official to fall victim to a sweeping purge under Chinese President Xi Jinping, possibly due to his ties with other purged officials.
During the AP interview, one of the very few occasions when she has agreed to be filmed, Grace Meng wept as she recounted a dream she had about her husband the previous night.
“I’m sad, I feel hopeless but angry, too, even hate. You can imagine when your children, when your sons ask: ‘Where’s Daddy?’ How can I answer? Who wants their children to grow up they have no daddy?” she said.
Wife of ex-Interpol president wary of Chinese envoys
Wife of ex-Interpol president wary of Chinese envoys
- China says Meng Hongwei, 64, is under investigation for graft and possibly other crimes
Macron asks Meloni not to ‘comment’ on France’s affairs after activist remark
- The killing has fueled political tensions in France ahead of municipal elections in March
- Meloni said the killing of Deranque was “a wound for all of Europe“
NEW DELHI: President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday called on Giorgia Meloni to stop “commenting on what is happening in other people’s countries,” after the Italian prime minister expressed shock at the fatal beating of a far-right activist in France.
Quentin Deranque, 23, died from head injuries after being attacked by at least six people last week on the sidelines of a far-right protest at a university in the city of Lyon. Most of the 11 suspects detained are from far left movements, according to a source close to the investigation.
The killing has fueled political tensions in France ahead of municipal elections in March and the 2027 presidential race, in which the far-right National Rally (RN) party is seen as having its best chance yet at winning the top job.
On Wednesday, Meloni said the killing of Deranque was “a wound for all of Europe.”
“Let everyone stay in their own lane,” Macron shot back in New Delhi, on the sidelines of an official visit to India.
Macron also said there was no place in France “for movements that adopt and legitimize violence.”
“Nothing can justify violent action — neither on one side nor the other, and not even in a head-to-head confrontation that is deadly for the republic,” he said.
Macron is “concerned about the situation, which he is closely monitoring,” a member of the French president’s team said earlier Thursday.
“We must avoid any spiral of violence,” they said.
Eleven people — eight men and three women — were taken into custody as part of the investigation into “intentional homicide.”
Among them are two parliamentary assistants to Raphael Arnault, a member of parliament from the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, as well as a former intern.
A lawyer for Deranque’s parents said they called “for calm and restraint.”
“The family condemns any call for violence. Any form of political violence,” Fabien Rajon told broadcaster RTL.
On Wednesday, Jordan Bardella, head of the far-right National Rally (RN), accused Macron and former prime ministers Gabriel Attal and Edouard Philippe of boosting the hard-left.
