Lui Por, Cheung Chi-ping and Lam Wing-kee will be released “in the coming few days”, say authorities, but Chinese investigations will continue

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Three of five missing Hong Kong booksellers will be freed on bail soon while mainland Chinese authorities continue their investigation, police have said.

Lui Por, Cheung Chi-ping and Lam Wing-kee will be “released on bail pending investigation in the coming few days”, said Hong Kong police in a brief notice late on Wednesday, based on information from the public security department in neighbouring Guangdong province.

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The disappearances of the three, along with two other men, Swedish citizen Gui Minhai and British citizen Lee Bo, have drawn international attention over fears Beijing is eroding the semi-autonomous Chinese city’s rule of law and civil liberties, such as freedom of the press.

The publishing company that the five are associated with specialised in books on sensitive Chinese political topics that proved popular with visitors from the mainland, where they were prohibited from sale.

The police statement did not say whether they would be allowed to return to Hong Kong or would have to remain in mainland China.

Lui, Cheung and Lam vanished in October and then reappeared on Sunday on Hong Kong-based pro-Beijing news channel Phoenix TV, where they confessed to helping Gui post thousands of books illegally to mainland Chinese buyers.

Hong Kong police had said previously the three were being investigated in a case involving a “person surnamed Gui”, based on information from Guangdong public security officials.

Lee appeared in a separate interview with the channel on Monday in which he claimed he wasn’t abducted, as many suspected, but had sneaked illegally into the mainland to help authorities with an investigation.

However, rights activists have questioned whether Lee had been forced to give the interview.



