Sweden demands China release bookseller Gui Minhai

Svenska PEN's Tucholsky Prize, awarded to detained Swedish bookseller Gui Minhai, is pictured in Stockholm

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden's foreign minister on Tuesday demanded Chinese authorities release Chinese-born Swedish citizen Gui Minhai, a day after he was sentenced to 10 years in jail on charges of illegally providing intelligence to foreigners.

Gui, a bookseller previously based in Hong Kong who sold books critical of China's political leadership, was detained by mainland police in 2018.

"We have always been clear that we demand that Gui Minhai be released so that he is able to reunite with his daughter, his family and that demand remains," Foreign Minister Ann Linde said in an interview on Swedish Radio.

"We, of course, demand immediate access to our Swedish citizen in order to give him all consular support that he is entitled to," she said.

(Reporting by Stockholm Newsroom)