Lam Wing-kee, a Hong Kong bookseller who was detained by Chinese authorities for eight months, held a press conference on Thursday in which he charged the mainland’s communist government with various violations of his rights, Time magazine is reporting.

“I was handcuffed and my eyes were covered,” Mr. Lam said of his arrest by Chinese officials at the border. “I noticed I was taken to Ningbo because I glimpsed the station when we got off the train.”

“Over the ensuing months, the 61-year-old recounted, he was held in solitary confinement without access to legal representation or, for that matter, anyone from the outside world. While in custody, he was repeatedly interrogated, kept under constant surveillance and on a suicide watch,” Time reported. “He also said he was forced to sign a statement confirming his guilt.”

“It was a blatant violation of one country, two systems,” complained Mr. Lam, referring to the Chinese doctrine that permits greater civil liberties for the former British colony. “I think it shows that Hongkongers should be concerned for their security.”

A business partner of Mr. Lam‘s, “Swedish national Gui Minhai, remains in Chinese government custody after disappearing from his holiday home in the Thai resort town of Pattaya in mid-October,” Time reported.

Mr. Lam’s store, Causeway Bay Books, “specialized in scandalous tomes about the lives of China’s communist leadership,” the magazine said. The businessman said he was released by the Chinese government in order for him to retrieve a database that lists purchasers of such books.

“Of course, I dare not return [to mainland China],” Mr. Lam told reporters.

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