Former Swedish ambassador to China indicted over meetings to discuss Hong Kong bookseller
- Anna Lindstedt had arranged for Angela Gui to meet the Chinese ambassador and two booksellers without the knowledge of the foreign ministry in Stockholm
- Gui Minhui who co-owned a bookstore in Hong Kong is still under detention in China
Prosecutors in Sweden said on Monday that the country’s former ambassador to China has been indicted for organising a meeting with the daughter of a detained bookseller to discuss his possible release with a Chinese diplomat and two businessmen.
Anna Lindstedt was recalled over the meeting, which was arranged without the knowledge of the foreign ministry in Stockholm, and she has now been indicted on a charge of unauthorised contacts with a foreign power.
“The ambassador is suspected of having acted outside the bounds of the authority granted to her during a meeting on a consular matter regarding the Swedish citizen Gui Minhai who is currently imprisoned in China,” prosecutor Hans Ihrman said Monday.
“At that meeting, the ambassador was in contact with persons representing the interests of the Chinese State.”
He said Lindstedt “exceeded her mandate and has therefore rendered herself criminally liable.”
Lindstedt allegedly told Angela Gui, the daughter of Gui Minhai, a naturalised Swede, that she should fly to Stockholm on January 24 to explore a “new approach” to her father’s case.