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.
Swedish speed skater Nils Van Der Poel, during the 10,000m at the Beijing Olympics, February 11, 2022 WANG Zhao AFP / Archives
This rare gesture of defiance to the Chinese authorities took place during a small ceremony Thursday in Cambridge in the United Kingdom, confirmed the latter.
"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.
Self-portrait of Chinese Angela Gui, September 22, 2017, daughter of Swedish-Chinese publisher Gui Minhai who is serving a ten-year prison sentence in China for speaking out about the human rights situation in the country Handout Courtesy of Angela Gui/AFP/Archives
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 statement.
"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.
Before being arrested in 2018, Gui Minhai published books with salacious content about the leaders of communist China at a Hong Kong publishing house, taking advantage of freedom of expression and publication in 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.
His case has been at the center of diplomatic tensions between Stockholm and Beijing for more than six years.
© 2022 AFP