The Swedish skater, who had already strongly criticized the communist regime on his return from controversial Games, gave his 10,000m medal to Angela Gui, the daughter of publisher Gui Minhai, who is serving a ten-year sentence jail in China.

For Nils van der Poel, "the Chinese government used our dreams as a political weapon to legitimize the regime. I made it a personal matter and I felt exploited," he said in a press release. NGO Amnesty International.

Swedish speed skater Nils Van Der Poel, during the 10,000m at the Beijing Olympics, February 11, 2022 WANG Zhao AFP / Archives

"I want human rights violations in China to decrease and Gui Minhai to be released. It's a lot to ask, but it's the only reasonable thing one can wish for," he added.

This rare political gesture took place during a small ceremony Thursday in Cambridge in the United Kingdom, confirmed the daughter of Gui Minhai.

"I accepted his medal on behalf of my father. I think he would be more than honored if he knew. Thank you Nils for being a great ally and friend," Angela Gui tweeted.

Swedish speed skater Nils van der Poel and Chinese Angela Gui, daughter of Swedish-Chinese dissident and publisher Gui Minhai, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence for exposing the human rights situation in China, pose on February 24 2022 at Cambridge Handout Amnesty International/AFP

Before being arrested twice in 2015 and 2018, Gui Minhai published in a Hong Kong publishing house books with salacious content on the leaders of Communist China, taking advantage of freedom of expression and publication on the semi-autonomous territory.

He was sentenced in February 2020 to ten years in prison by a court in Ningbo, in northeastern China, for having “illegally disseminated classified information abroad”, without the Chinese justice specifying which.

"Irresponsible" Games

Several Western countries, led by the United States, had decided on a "diplomatic boycott" of the Beijing Olympics to denounce human rights violations in China, particularly in its Xinjiang region where the Uyghur Muslim minority lives.

Nils van der Poel, who flew over the skating events over the distances of 5,000 and 10,000 meters, had already strongly criticized the holding of the Beijing Olympics on his return to Sweden a few days ago.

"The Olympics is huge, it's a fantastic sporting event where you unite the world and nations meet," he told the Swedish daily Aftonbladet on February 13.

"But that's also what Hitler did before invading Poland and that's what Russia did before invading Ukraine" in 2014.

Swedish speed skater Nils Van Der Poel, gold medalist in the 10,000m, during the award ceremony on February 12, 2022 at the Beijing Olympics SEBASTIEN BOZON AFP / Archives

"I think it is extremely irresponsible to give it to a country that violates human rights as clearly as the Chinese regime," denounced the athlete.

His gesture of support comes as Gui Minhai's case has been at the center of diplomatic tensions between Stockholm and Beijing for more than six years.

The latter disappeared for the first time in 2015 with four other booksellers based in Hong Kong.

After this mysterious disappearance during a vacation in Thailand, he reappeared in China where he had served a two-year sentence.

Mr. Gui was arrested again in January 2018 on a train, when he was traveling to Beijing, accompanied by Swedish diplomats, for a medical appointment.

Born in China 57 years ago, he moved to Scandinavia after the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989.

Sweden regularly calls for his release, but Beijing says it is a domestic matter and does not recognize him as a foreign citizen, saying he voluntarily took back his citizenship in 2018.

Amnesty on Friday called for increased international pressure to release dissidents in China.

© 2022 AFP