Two missing Hong Kong booksellers return from China | CNN

Five Hong Kong residents linked to controversial local publisher Mighty Current and Causeway Bay Books went missing in late 2015 only to reappear months later in Chinese custody. Lam Wing-Kee, top center, resurfaced in Hong Kong on June 16, 2016 after an 8-month absence, saying he had been abducted into the mainland.

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Lee Bo is a major shareholder in Causeway Bay Books, which is owned by Mighty Current, and disappeared from Hong Kong at the end of the December. He is a British passport holder. In a television interview aired February 29, he said he had sneaked across the border to mainland China to help assist in an investigation. Lee returned home late March after a three-month absence, according to Hong Kong's government.

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Gui Minhai, the owner of Hong Kong publisher Mighty Current, is a Swedish passport holder. He was last seen in Thailand on October 17, driving out of a condominium complex in the resort town of Pattaya, where he owns an apartment. Thai police told CNN they have no record of Gui leaving the country. Three months later, Gui appeared weeping on state television in China. He claimed he returned to the country of his birth to turn himself in to police for breaking parole after a drunk driving accident thirteen years ago. His daughter Angela Gui testified before the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China in May about the alleged abduction of her father from his home in Thailand. In her first broadcast interview on June 16, 2016, UK-based Angela told CNN that she has received some messages and phone calls from her father in which he said she should keep quiet about his plight, but she had chosen to speak out. "I just hope they know they've overstepped a boundary. What they need to do is to release my father."

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Lam Wing-Kee, manager of Causeway Bay Books, went missing in Octber last year while in China.<strong> </strong>A statement from the Hong Kong government on February 4 said Lam, along with colleagues Lui Por and Cheung Chi Ping, was under investigation and being held by police in Guangdong province. In an interview aired February 28, Lam, Lui, Cheung and Gui admitted to illegal book trading. Lam reappeared on June 16, 2016 in Hong Kong and claimed he had been kidnapped into mainland China by "special forces" at a press conference.

Lam Wing-Kee, manager of Causeway Bay Books, went missing in Octber last year while in China. A statement from the Hong Kong government on February 4 said Lam, along with colleagues Lui Por and Cheung Chi Ping, was under investigation and being held by police in Guangdong province. In an interview aired February 28, Lam, Lui, Cheung and Gui admitted to illegal book trading. Lam reappeared on June 16, 2016 in Hong Kong and claimed he had been kidnapped into mainland China by "special forces" at a press conference.

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Cheung Chi Ping is the business manager of Mighty Current. China's foreign ministry spokesperson said that Cheung and his colleagues "admitted their crimes while being interviewed on television." Hong Kong police said he returned to Hong Kong March 6, refused police assistance and declined to disclose any details.

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Lui Por is the general manager of Mighty Current. Like the others, he confessed to "illegal book trading" in the televised interview. It's not clear whether they were speaking under duress. Hong Kong police said Lui returned to Hong Kong March 4.

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Hong Kong's missing booksellers

Story highlights

NEW: A second of the five missing Hong Kong booksellers has returned to Hong Kong

Disappearance of five booksellers sparked fears they were abducted by China

CNN —

Two of five missing booksellers believed to have been held in China have returned to Hong Kong, the Hong Kong police said Sunday.

Cheung Chi Ping requested the police to cancel his missing persons case, two days after his fellow bookseller Lui Por returned to Hong Kong also asking police to close his missing persons case.

Both men requested no further help from the government or police and “refused to disclose other details,” according to police statements.

All five men were involved with publisher Mighty Current and its shop Causeway Bay Books, which sold gossipy titles about China’s elite.

The disappearance of the booksellers sparked outrage in Hong Kong and internationally over fears they were taken against their will in December by Beijing authorities. Thousands of people demonstrated in Hong Kong to demand their return.

Hong Kong authorities have said China was holding some of the men. China has repeatedly said its officials wouldn’t do anything illegal.

Lui Por and associates Cheung Chi-ping, Lam Wing-kee and Gui Minhai appeared on television on February 26 admitting to “illegal book trading” in China.

Gui Minhai, the owner of Hong Kong publisher Mighty Current, ordered thousands of “unauthorized” books sent to mainland China, the other men said.

The fifth bookseller, Lee Bo, appeared on Chinese television Monday to say he hadn’t been abducted from Hong Kong. Lee said he went to China to assist police with an investigation and was free to return once the investigation had finished.

The three other booksellers are still believed to be in mainland China.

CNN’s Zahra Ullah reported from Hong Kong and Ralph Ellis reported and wrote the article in Atlanta.