I was afraid of going to jail and thought I’d better run, said Swedish national Gui Minhai who was convicted of the offence in 2004
DANNY.MOK@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 17 January, 2016, 9:43pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 17 January, 2016, 10:06pm
I have to shoulder my own liability, and I’m willing to be punished, said a tearful Gui Minhai, during an interview with CCTV, aired on Sunday night. Photo: SCMP Pictures
One of the five booksellers who had mysteriously disappeared in recent months appeared in an interview on state media on Sunday night, saying he had surrendered to the mainland authorities after being on the run for more than 11 years.
Gui Minhai, a China-born Swedish national and co-owner of Mighty Current publishing company – which specialises in books banned on the mainland – appeared on CCTV, admitting he had been evading a suspended 2 year jail term since causing the death of a 20-year-old university student while drink-driving in Ningbo, Zhejiang province in 2004.
“I was afraid of going to jail, and there was no way I could develop on the mainland, so I thought I better run,” Gui said.
He surrendered to mainland Chinese police in October last year.
“I have to shoulder my own liability, and I’m willing to be punished,” Gui said, while sobbing.
READ MORE: Hong Kong government still waiting for a reply on missing bookseller Lee Bo
During the recorded interview, which the state broadcaster claimed was filmed in a detention centre, Gui also asked that the Swedish authorities stay away.
“Even though I am a Swedish national, I truly feel that I am still Chinese and my roots are still in China. So I hope that the Swedish side would respect my personal choice, rights and privacy and let me solve my own problems,” he said.
There was no mention of the other four missing booksellers.
Xinhua also carried the report at about the same time last night.
Mighty Current publishing company has published about 80 books on China since its establishment in 2012. The company also runs a book shop in Causeway Bay, known as Causeway Bay Books.
The bookstore was established in 1994 and was said to be popular among mainland tourists as they could buy politics books banned in their homeland.
Missing since November
Gui Minhai first came to the attention of media when he appeared in Thailand, after leaving town suddenly in November, last year. His disappearance was preceded by the disappearance of three other members of the Mighty Current/Causeway Bay Books staff the month before after they had visited relatives in Shenzen in mainland China.
Missing person reports were made to police about three other members of the bookstore’s staff – manager Lam Wing-kei, Lui Bo, general manager of the publishing house and Cheung Jiping, the publishing house’s business manager, on November 5.
At the time a colleague and co-owner of Might Current Publishing, Mr Lee, said Gui’s whereabouts were unknown since he went on holiday in Pattaya in Thailand in the middle of November.
Gui was last heard of when he sent an email on October 15 to printers asking them to get ready for a new book. Since then, Gui could not be reached, Lee said.
Lee said he feared the four might have been detained by mainland authorities as the book Gui was sending to print probably touched on sensitive issues.
“I suspect all of them were detained. All four went missing at the same time,” Lee said. He added that phone calls to them were either unanswered or went dead.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1902198/missing-hong-kong-bookseller-appears-state-television
