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Hong Kong bookseller disappearances
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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

Missing Hong Kong bookseller says he turned himself in for 2003 drunk driving death on state TV

Gui Minhai, the bookseller missing since November claims in a television interview he surrendered to mainland Chinese authorities - despite being given a suspended sentence for the offence 12 years ago

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 12 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 fleeing from a suspended two-year jail term since causing the death of a 23-year-old university student while drunk-driving in Ningbo, Zhejiang province in 2004.

The CCTV report shows the 23-year-old university student who died in the alleged accident. Photo: SCMP Pictures
One of the conditions of the sentence was that he stayed in mainland China.

“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.

Watch: Missing Hong Kong bookseller paraded on China's state-run television

READ MORE: ‘What has happened to him is abduction’: Gui Minhai was involved in drink drive accident but trip to mainland dubious, close friend reveals

Since I voluntarily went to the mainland to assist with investigations, progress has been good. Things are going well. I have made friends with them.
A fragment of a letter signed from Lee Bo sent to his wife. Click to see the entire letter here.

During the recorded interview, which the state broadcaster claimed was filmed in a detention centre, Gui also asked that the Swedish authorities to 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.

The CCTV report also stated Gui Minhai had been involved in other criminal activities, and the related persons were also being investigated.

Xinhua also carried the report at about the same time last night.

Almost two weeks ago the Swedish ministry for foreign affairs announced it was taking a “serious view” over Gui Minhai’s disappearance, summoning the Thai ambassador and launching an investigation both in Thailand and mainland China.

“Our embassies in Bangkok and Beijing are investigating this through local authorities. Swedish law enforcement authorities are working on the case. Our embassy in Bangkok has raised the issue with high-level Thai representatives,” ministry spokesman Gabriel Wernstedt said.

READ MORE: Sweden’s foreign ministry takes ‘serious view’ over disappearance of publisher and naturalised citizen while in Thailand

The 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.

Gaps in the facts: analysis of the “confession” of Gui in TV appearance

According to the state media report, Gui Minhai was involved in a fatal drunk driving incident on a Ningbo highway in 2003. Records showed the CCTV carried reports of the crash in April 2005, when it said Gui was 46, and was a director from a Ningbo firm.

But the reports from the state media, both CCTV and Xinhua, last night said Gui was born in May 1964 in Ningbo, meaning he was 40 in April 2005.

Apple Daily reported Gui’s daughter had released a statement saying she had no way to confirm the authenticity of the reported drunk driving case and she had never heard of such case from parents.

The statement says she wants to pay a visit to her father soon and to find a lawyer for him, and hoped

officials from the Swedish government could go with her.

In another subtle new dimension to the mystery surrounding the case, the second Chinese character of Gui’s name (min) in the state media reports was different from the one commonly used in Hong Kong media, even though both the characters in both versions shared the same pinyin.

READ MORE: Missing, presumed detained: Hong Kong publishers of books critical of China go missing

Another announcement on Lee Bo, released same time as Gui Minhai’s TV appearance

Within an hour of the interview being broadcast, the online publication Headline Daily announced the wife of fellow missing bookseller Lee Bo had received another letter from her husband.

The report claimed she had received a two-page handwritten letter from Lee Bo, stating he was fine and healthy and the investigation by the mainland authorities had made ‘good progress’.

The report went on to state Lee Bo had claimed in the letter he had found out Gui Minhai had a ‘complicated personal history’, was ‘involved in other crimes’ and was a ‘morally unacceptable person’ and he had been implicated as a result of Gui Minhai’s behavior.

Mrs Lee has been contacted by the South China Morning Post but has not replied to calls.

Missing since November

Gui Minhai first came to the attention of the media when he went missing from his home in Pattaya, Thailand, on October 17. At around the same time, missing reports were made for 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

Gui was last heard of when he sent an email on October 15 to printers asking them to get ready for a new book.

Lee Bo 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.

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