Editor Gui Minhai 'kidnapped' once again by the police, in front of two Swedish diplomats

Gui is one of five publishers-booksellers kidnapped by the Chinese police in 2015. He was released last October, after a videotaped "confession". He was going to the Swedish embassy, ​​perhaps to emigrate. But his relatives live in Ningbo (Zhejiang) and could be used as "hostages" to force him into silence.


Hong Kong (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Gui Minhai, one of the publishers-booksellers who disappeared two years ago in the hands of the Chinese police, was once again kidnapped by policemen from China, while on a train travelling to Beijing in the company of two diplomats Swedes.

According to the New York Times, Gui was travelling to the  Swedish embassy in the capital for a medical examination. Gui is also a Swedish citizen and suffers from lateral amyotrophic sclerosis.

Gui’s daughter, Angela, who is campaigning in favor of her father from Great Britain, confirmed his abduction, which took place near the train station in Beijing. The Swedish embassy also confirms the incident.

Gui had disappeared in police custody two years ago, along with four other publishers-booksellers who were printing books in Hong Kong on the private lives of Beijing's leaders and selling them in China. Some of them were kidnapped in Hong Kong, putting in crisis the territory’s much preached "great autonomy". The five later reappeared in China, and state TV said they were "voluntarily" in China. Some of them "confessed" crimes of the past. Gui had confessed to a road crime that occurred 10 years ago.

Released last October, Gui lived in Ningbo (Zhejiang) with his family. According to his daughter Angela, he is under continuous control.

Some of Gui’S friends think that he was going to Beijing to renew his Swedish passport and to study the possibility of emigrating. But - they say - if Guo's family members remain in China, it will always be possible for the authorities to use them as "hostages" to guarantee Guo's silence on the affairs of the leadership.