Sweden demands release of the journalist convicted in China for spying

The Swedish government is demanding the release of a national of a country detained in China, publicist Gui Minhai, who was sentenced on Monday to 10 years in prison for spying for a foreign country.  About this on Tuesday on Twitter writes Foreign Minister Anne Linde.

  

"She noted the report on the verdict against Gui Minhai. Now we are trying to get more information. We did not have any indictments and access to court hearings. The government continues to demand the release of Gui Minhai and providing us access to our citizen to provide consular support," she said  she.

 The mid-level court of Ningbo City (Zhejiang Province, East China) on Monday sentenced Gui Minhai to 10 years in prison for spying for a foreign state.  According to the verdict, the defendant was found guilty of "illegal intelligence activities abroad."  By court order, he will be "deprived of political rights for five years."

 Gui Minghai is a Hong Kong-based publicist and publisher who distributed books criticizing the political leadership and the Chinese Communist Party.  He disappeared in October 2015 in Thailand, where he spent his vacation, after which information appeared in foreign media that he had been abducted by Chinese intelligence services.  In January 2016, a video was shown on the Central Television of China (CCTV), in which Gui Minhai announced that he had returned to China of his own free will to take responsibility for the accident with his participation in December 2003, which killed a schoolgirl.

 He spent two years in prison and was released in 2017.  However, three months later he was again detained on the train to Beijing, where he was accompanied by two Swedish diplomats.

 Chinese authorities will allow Swedish diplomats to meet with Gui Minghai after the outbreak of the coronavirus, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.

 "To ensure the safety of people, the relevant departments temporarily suspended the organization of meetings with prisoners due to the pneumonia epidemic caused by the new coronavirus. After the epidemic has stabilized, such a meeting will be organized," he said in response to a question about the last time that Swedish diplomats were allowed  see Gui Minghai.  According to the diplomat, the judicial authorities of China fully guarantee the fulfillment of the legitimate rights of a publicist.

 "Despite the fact that the relations between the two countries have experienced a certain effect due to the Gui Minhai case, diplomats of the two states, including those working in embassies, are in contact. Communication channels are still open. We hope that both sides with the help of  strengthening contacts as soon as possible will return bilateral relations to the path of normal development, "he stressed.