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The European Parliament has issued a strong rebuke against China, demanding the immediate release of Swedish publisher Gui Minhai, ten years after he was abducted in Thailand and later imprisoned in China.
Gui, a co-owner of Hong Kong's Causeway Bay Books, was seized from his Pattaya apartment in 2015 and resurfaced months later on Chinese state television, where he was seen "confessing" to a fatal drunk-driving incident. He was subsequently sentenced to ten years in prison on espionage charges, as reported by Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP). According to HKFP, the European Parliament passed a joint motion last week urging Beijing to "immediately and unconditionally" release Gui and all others detained for peacefully exercising their basic freedoms. The resolution also called for an end to China's practice of arbitrary detention and coerced televised confessions, which have long drawn global condemnation. Lawmakers cited growing concerns over China's repression of lawyers, journalists, minority figures, and artists. Gui's abduction marked the start of an alarming pattern of cross-border disappearances targeting publishers critical of the Chinese Communist Party. He was among four individuals connected to Causeway Bay Books who vanished under similar circumstances, though Gui remains the only one still imprisoned. Press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) believes he was kidnapped by Chinese agents and remains an "emblematic figure among more than a hundred media workers currently detained in China." In a statement last week, Gui's daughter Angela renewed her plea for help, saying her family has been living in painful uncertainty. "A decade later, we still don't know where my father is, what condition he's in, or how his trial was handled," she said. "We can only hope he's still alive. Sweden and the EU must urgently intensify their calls for his release," as highlighted by HKFP. Gui has been denied both family contact and consular access since his detention. Chinese officials, however, continue to defend his imprisonment, insisting that Gui is not a persecuted writer but a convicted criminal. The rights groups see his case as a symbol of Beijing's growing transnational repression and deepening hostility toward free expression, as reported by HKFP. (ANI)
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