WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement Sunday after American citizen Sandy Phan-Gillis returned to the United States after being unjustly detained by the Chinese government for two years. Cardin had been an advocate for her freedom, most recently leading a bipartisan letter with Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the Committee chairman, and their colleagues to the Chinese Ambassador to the U.S., urging Mrs. Phan-Gillis' release:
“After two long, difficult years, Sandy is home and I am thrilled for her husband and her family. I wish her quiet rest and recovery as she readjusts back to her life in the United States. Her unjust disappearance, arrest, detention and conviction by the Chinese were unacceptable and served as a strain on our bilateral relations.”
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