Sweden demands release of HK bookseller Gui Minhai

Sweden says it wants immediate access to Hong Kong book publisher Gui Minhai who has been jailed for a decade on the mainland. File photo: AFP

Sweden's foreign minister Ann Linde on Tuesday demanded the release of Causeway Bay bookseller Gui Minhai, after he was sentenced to 10 years in prison on the mainland for "illegally providing intelligence overseas".



Linde also insisted that Gui is still a Swedish citizen, after a court in Ningbo said he had applied to have his Chinese citizenship reinstated in 2018.



"We have always been clear that we demand that Gui Minhai is released in order to reunite with his daughter and family. That demand remains," Linde said.



"We demand, naturally, immediate access to our Swedish citizen so we can give him all the consular support that he has a right to," she told Swedish public broadcaster, Sveriges Radio.



Linde said she couldn't comment on the charge laid against Gui, saying she did not know exactly what he has been accused of, adding that Sweden had not been given access to his trial.



Relations between Sweden and China have been strained for several years over Beijing's detention of Gui, and Stockholm has repeatedly called for his release.



The Chinese ambassador to Sweden, Gui Congyou, in November threatened "counter-measures" after Sweden's culture minister awarded the publisher a rights prize.



Two Chinese business delegations to Stockholm were subsequently cancelled. (Additional reporting by AFP)