Lui is second of five to stage a return to city, asks local police not to interfere
PHILA.SIU@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Saturday, 19 March, 2016, 2:34pm
A screen grab from Phoenix TV shows Lui Por, general manager of Mighty Current publishing house, which specialises in books critical of the Chinese Communist Party. Beijing has accused Lui of helping to send hundreds of banned titles to the mainland. Photo: EPA
Another Causeway Bay bookseller who disappeared last year has returned to Hong Kong again this month claiming he is free to travel between the city and the mainland after he was released on bail, while at the same time refusing to reveal details of the investigation he is involved in.
Lui Por said he was taken into custody by Chinese law-enforcement officers after he crossed the border to reach Shenzhen on October 17. He added that he is now considering hiring a lawyer.
When asked if he was concerned he would be convicted by Beijing for ferrying hundreds of banned titles to the mainland, Lui told the Ming Pao : “I am not too [worried]. If that’s going to happen, I will have to bear my responsibility”.
The popular Hong Kong daily spoke to Lui outside his Tai Wai flat on Friday after it received a tip off that he may have returned to the city.
A flyer that reads 'Missing: Impossible' with the photos of the five missing booksellers hangs on the entrance to Causeway Bay Books store in Hong Kong on March 5. Photo: EPA
Lui is one of five associates from the Mighty Current publishing house and its Causeway Bay Books affiliate who disappeared in mysterious circumstances since last October, prompting countries including the UK to condemn what appeared to be moves by Beijing to overstep its jurisdiction.
Lui, Cheung Chi-ping and Lam Wing-kee disappeared while on the mainland in October. Gui Minhai vanished from Pattaya, Thailand in the same month. Lee Po went missing from Hong Kong.
Two of the five have since returned to Hong Kong.
However, their collective vanishing act led to widespread fears that they were kidnapped by Chinese agents because their companies specialised in books critical of the Chinese Communist Party.
Gui stands accused of ordering his associates, including Lui, to deliver about 4,000 “banned books” from Hong Kong to the mainland since October 2014.
A sign for Causeway Bay Books hangs outside the bookstore in Hong Kong on March 5. Photo: EPA
The South China Morning Post reported earlier this month that Lui returned to Hong Kong but re-crossed the border again just hours after asking local police to stop investigating his “missing person” case.
Deepening the mystery surrounding Lui’s movements, he said he did not require any help from the Hong Kong police force.
In the Ming Pao report, Lui said he has no information about either the condition or whereabouts of his associates.
Meanwhile, Cheung told Hong Kong’s Sing Tao Daily earlier this week that he was allowed to travel freely between Hong Kong and the mainland since his release on bail. The reporter claimed to have bumped into Cheung in Shatin, the neighbourhood where Cheung lives.
The Post reported earlier that bookseller Lee has emailed Gui’s daughter, Angela, saying he feared Gui was “taken by special agents in China for political reasons”. The email was sent after Gui disappeared but before Lee himself went missing.
The email contradicts Lee’s story weeks after he disappeared. In a letter he wrote earlier to his wife, Lee blamed Gui for his predicament, describing him as a “morally unacceptable person” who had a “complicated personal history”.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1927523/missing-bookseller-lui-por-hong-kong-again-sticks-script
