European parliament renews its call on China to release Swedish publisher Gui Minhai, kidnapped 10 years ago

On 9 October, a landslide majorityof EU parliament (546 out of 593 Members of the European Parliament voting in favour) voted in favour of a resolution calling on the European External Action Service (EEAS), the European Commission and EU member states to urge China to release Swedish publisher Gui Minhai. Since his kidnapping 10 years ago by Chinese agents in Thailand, RSF has been campaigning for Gui Minhai's unconditional release, while his current whereabouts remain undisclosed by the regime.

In the resolution, the European Parliament echoes RSF concerns and "stresses that the denial of consular access to Gui Minhai constitutes a violation of China's obligations under the Vienna Convention; Expresses serious concern about Gui Minhai's health and treatment in detention; calls on the Chinese authorities to allow immediate access to independent medical care of his own choosing as well as unhindered access to his family, legal representative of his choice and consular officials."

At the time of his arrest, Gui Minhai held only Swedish citizenship. In the past, Chinese officials have stated that foreign passports do not protect individuals who were born in the People's Republic of China, an interpretation that blatantly violates the Vienna Convention.

"Ten years on, we still don't know where my father is or how his trial was conducted. We have to assume that he is still alive, but there's no new information, so we can't be sure. Sweden and the EU must urgently renew the calls for his immediate release. We can't wait another ten years."

Angela Gui
Human rights advocate and daughter of Gui Minhai

One of the grimmest stories of China's transnational repression

On 17 October 2015, Gui Minhai - one of the founders of Mighty Current, a Hong Kong publishing house known for its investigations into Chinese politics - was kidnappedin Thailand by Chinese state agents while on vacation. What was meant to be a short trip turned into a decade of disappearance and detention as Gui never returned to Hong Kong or to his family in Sweden.

In February 2020, he was sentencedto 10 years in prison by the Ningbo Intermediate People's Court on the spurious charge of "illegally providing intelligence to foreign countries," an accusation routinely usedby Chinese authorities to silence journalists, press freedom defenders and dissenting voices.

The European Parliament had adopted a previous resolutionin 2016 calling for the release of Gui Minhai and condemning all cases of human rights violations and violations of the freedom of publication.

China is ranked 178th out of 180 countries and territories in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index.