Chinese police release Simon Cheng Man-kit ‘confession’ tape amid accusations of torture
- Shenzhen authorities claim Cheng ‘engaged in prostitution’ but former British consulate trade officer said earlier that he did nothing regrettable
The video, which was released through the Weibo microblogging account of Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily , showed Simon Cheng Man-kit, a Hong Kong resident who previously worked for the British consulate in Hong Kong as a trade and investment officer, “confessing” to his interrogators that he felt ashamed of his wrongdoings and promising not to repeat the mistakes.
Another video released by the police purportedly showed Cheng at a club in Luohu district in Shenzhen and later entering a room with a woman.
A report with the videos said Cheng visited the club three times over a fortnight from late July during which he had engaged in “prostitution”.
“From the information provided by Luohu police, [we can see that] this was an ordinary case of patronising prostitution and this was supported by clear facts and conclusive evidence,” the report said.
“In this case, police have handled the investigation and interrogation in accordance with the law and [they] did not extract evidence [from Cheng] through torture.”