Hong Kong bookseller, Lam Wing-kee, claims to have been detained by Chinese authorities from December 2015 to January this year at a Press Conference.
The Chinese foreign minister has denied claims made by bookseller Lam Wing-kee that Lee Bo, another bookseller, had been held in China for a number of months, after being ‘illegally abducted’ over the boarder.
After the mysterious disappearance of five Chinese booksellers between October 2015 and January of this year, local bookseller Lam Wing-kee spoke out about his experience, telling a press conference today that he was also detained by officials. He spoke of this experience of being kidnapped and placed in solitary confinement in October 2015. He accused Chinese officials of detaining him in this way, and interrogating him for crimes he had not committed. These crimes included selling banned books, some of which contained negative comments about Chinese leaders.
Wing-kee also shed light on his part in a confession broadcast shown in February, whereby himself and three other captives admitted to selling banned books. He argued that he was forced to confess, and read off a script. This confession was broadcast throughout China.
It is not known whether the three other missing persons, all of whom who also had connections with Sage Communications, a publisher renowned for producing sensational works on the private lives of Chinese leaders, suffered similar experiences as Lam Wing-kee and Lee Bo.