A picture of missing bookseller Gui Minhai hangs on a placard beside freed Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kee
A court in eastern China has sentenced a seller of books that took a skeptical look at the ruling Communist Party to 10 years in prison for “illegally providing intelligence overseas,” in a further sign of Beijing’s hard line toward its critics.
The Ningbo Intermediate People’s Court announced yesterday that it has sentenced Gui Minhai, a naturalized Swedish citizen. Gui admitted to his crime, agreed with the sentence and will not appeal, the court said.
For years, Gui sold gossipy books about Chinese leaders in the semi-autonomous Chinese city of Hong Kong. He first disappeared in 2015, when he was believed to have been abducted by Chinese agents from his seaside home in Thailand.
China maintains tight control over all information and brooks no criticism of its ruling Communist Party. It has detained scores of lawyers, writers and public intellectuals. In recent months, police have reprimanded medical workers who warned about the ongoing outbreak of a new virus that originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Amnesty International’s China researcher Patrick Poon said the verdict demonstrated that “the Chinese authorities are not letting the coronavirus crisis distract them from repressing dissidents.”
“Despite the authorities’ claim that Gui has somehow handed over ‘intelligence’ while in their custody, the reason for his targeting almost certainly relates to his attempted trip to Beijing with two Swedish diplomats in 2018,” Poon said in an emailed statement.
The court claims that Gui, who was born in Ningbo, applied to reinstate his Chinese citizenship in 2018. That would mean renouncing his Swedish citizenship, as China does not officially allow dual citizenship.
Four other people who worked for the same publishing company also went missing around the time of Gui’s detention, only to turn up months later in police custody in mainland China. Gui is the only one who remains in detention.
He was initially released into house arrest in Ningbo, then police detained him once again while he and two Swedish diplomats were on a train together bound for Beijing.
“We have noted the reports and are now seeking official confirmation about the case,” the Swedish Foreign Ministry said in an email to The Associated Press. “We have consistently made it clear that we demand Gui Minhai be released so that he can be reunited with his daughter and family.”
The foreign ministry said that Sweden was not given access to the trial, and that officials there were unable to review the indictment or offer Gui access to legal counsel.
“We demand – once again – that we immediately be given consular access,” the ministry said. AP
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