Former Swedish ambassador to China faces criminal investigation over secret Gui Minhai meetings
- Prosecutor says Anna Lindstedt is being investigated over clandestine talks to free bookseller who disappeared from Hong Kong in 2015
- Diplomat is suspected over exceeding her authority by starting negotiations without the knowledge of the foreign ministry
Sweden’s former ambassador to Beijing could have committed a crime when she organised negotiations aimed at securing the release of detained Chinese-Swedish publisher Gui Minhai without the knowledge of the foreign ministry, a prosecutor said Thursday.
Anna Lindstedt is suspected of having overstepped her authority when she set up a meeting in Stockholm in late January between the publisher’s daughter and businessmen claiming to have connections to the Chinese Communist Party, without telling the ministry.
Gui, a Chinese-born Swedish citizen known for publishing gossipy titles about Chinese political leaders out of a Hong Kong book shop, disappeared while holidaying in Thailand in 2015 before resurfacing in mainland China.
Prosecutor Hans Ihrman told Swedish public radio that Lindstedt, who served as ambassador between 2016 and earlier this year, was under formal criminal investigation.
Ihrman said she was suspected of “arbitrary conduct when negotiating with a foreign power,” meaning someone acting outside their mandate.
