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Chan Tong-kai accompanied by Reverend Canon Peter Koon leaves the Pik Uk Correctional Institution in Hong Kong last October. Photo: EPA

Hong Kong murder suspect at centre of extradition bill row ‘still under police protection’

  • Chan Tong-kai is living with his mother at a safe house and has been asked to avoid contacting anyone over the internet, a source says
  • The 20-year-old Hong Kong resident, wanted in Taiwan over the killing of his girlfriend, is still willing to go back to the island to face trial, according to reverend
A Hong Kong murder suspect wanted in Taiwan whose case helped spark months of civil unrest back home remains under police protection he requested and has been asked to avoid contacting anyone online, the Post has learned.

Chan Tong-kai, 20, returned to Hong Kong after the death of his pregnant girlfriend, Poon Hiu-wing, in Taipei in February 2018, but authorities on the self-ruled island want him to return and face questioning. He was never sent back, given the lack of an extradition treaty between the two jurisdictions, which the administration cited in launching a bill on the transfer of suspects to other governments.

Chan did serve 19 months in Hong Kong for money-laundering after he used Poon’s funds while in the city and requested police protection upon his release last October.

He is staying in a safe house with his mother, where he is given general access to the internet and allowed to play video games but has been asked not to contact the outside world, according to a source familiar with his condition. Their meals were being arranged by police, the source said.

Security consultant Clement Lai Ka-chi, who served in the police’s VIP protection unit, said authorities might have deemed the arrangement necessary after conducting a risk-assessment.

As with other individuals under police protection, Chan would have to oblige by the conditions they set or risk losing the service. “Police may say to them they could no longer protect them,” Lai said.

Under normal protocol, the protectee would not be charged unless he or she requested something beyond what police provided.

Murder suspect Chan Tong-kai’s release from Hong Kong prison

“We will get them a lunchbox from the police canteen, but if they want something else, they will have to order their own takeaway,” he said.

A police spokesman said it would not comment on individual cases.

The extradition bill triggered mass protests beginning in June last year. Although the government withdrew the legislation three months later, public anger grew and the movement morphed into a larger one targeting the government and police, accused of using excessive force to quell the demonstrations. Radical protesters vandalised shops perceived to have pro-Beijing ties and targeted individuals holding opposite views.

Chan remained adamant about returning to Taiwan to face any trial, according to Reverend Canon Peter Koon Ho-ming, who has been assisting him and last met him about three weeks ago.

“Chan is still determined to go to Taiwan and has not changed his mind,” Koon said.

On the day he was released from the Pik Uk Correctional Institution, Chan said: “I am willing, for my impulsive act and things I did wrong, to surrender myself to Taiwan to face sentencing.”

But the island has banned non-residents from entering due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Koon earlier said Chan would wait until the end of Taiwan’s presidential election, fearing the highly politically charged event could lead to him being treated unfairly.

President Tsai Ing-wen, of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, was re-elected in January, seeing off challenges by Han Kuo-yu of the mainland-friendly Kuomintang and James Soong Chu-yu, from the People First Party. She pointed to the Hong Kong protests as a cautionary tale of Beijing’s encroachment during her election campaign.

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