Sweden calls for release of Gui Minhai, sentenced to 10 years in prison in China

Text by: RFI Follow

Sweden once again calls for the release of the publisher of Swedish origin Gui Minhai, sentenced on Monday to 10 years in prison. Gui Minhai is part of this group of five publishers working for a Hong Kong house who disappeared in 2015.

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“ We did not have access to the trial. We demand the release of Gui ”: statement Tuesday morning by the Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Ann Linde. On Monday February 24, a court in eastern China sentenced the publisher to ten years in prison for " illegally distributing classified information abroad ," without further details.

Gui Minhai was publishing sensational books on the privacy of Chinese leaders in Hong Kong when he disappeared like four of his colleagues in 2015 - he was then said to be preparing a book on President Xi Jinping. Released in October 2017, he was arrested again in January 2018 while traveling with Swedish diplomats.

Stockholm had denounced an arrest " contrary to fundamental international rules on consular support ", and had, last November, to the anger of Beijing, awarded an award to the publisher - in his absence.

In her tweet, the Swedish foreign minister also demanded access for Swedish citizens in China to provide consular support, but according to a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Health, quoted by Reuters, the agreements were suspended. due to coronavirus, and will not be replaced until this health problem is resolved.

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• Hong Kong
• China
• Sweden
• Human rights

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