Gui Minhai awarded 2018 IPA Prix Voltaire

The International Publishers Association (IPA) has awarded the 2018 Prix Voltaire award, which supports defenders of the freedom to publish, to missing Chinese-born Swedish publisher Gui Minhai.

A Hong Kong-based publisher and bookseller, Gui specialised in publishing political books that were critical of the leadership of the Chinese government through the publishing house Mighty Current and distributing the titles via Causeway Bay Bookstore. The IPA said in a statement that the award ‘honours his bravery in continuing to publish despite the risks involved’.

Also nominated for the 2017 Prix Voltaire, Gui was allegedly ‘kidnapped by Chinese agents from his holiday home in Thailand in October 2015, resurfaced in Chinese custody several months later, and, following a period of doubt over his whereabouts, was reportedly snatched from a train in January,’ said the IPA.

‘Gui Minhai has contributed to the free circulation of ideas, participating in human rights conferences and sitting on the board of Independent Chinese PEN. His treatment at the hands of the Chinese authorities has had a chilling effect on Hong Kong’s once vibrant and audacious publishing industry,’ said the IPA.

The presentation of the award will take place at the International Publishers Congress in New Delhi on 12 February 2018.

Category: International news