‘Missing’ HK bookseller turns himself in to police

One of the missing Hong Kong booksellers said that he returned to the Chinese mainland to turn himself in after 11 years on the run for killing a college student while driving drunk. The disappearance of five booksellers in Hong Kong has attracted much attention in the past few months and spurred speculation that they were secretly taken away for questioning for publishing books against China. According to the Xinhua News Agency on Sunday, China-born Swedish national Gui Minhai, who worked for publishing house Mighty Current and also runs the Causeway Bay bookstore in Hong Kong, was sentenced to two years in jail with a two-year reprieve in August 2004 for running over and killing a college girl in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province on December 8, 2003. In November 2004, Gui fled overseas using a fake ID. Police have been chasing him since 2006. Gui told Xinhua that he missed his family while he was away and decided to turn himself in after learning of his father's death. "Returning to the Chinese mainland and surrendering was my personal choice and had nothing to do with anyone else. I should shoulder my responsibility and I don't want any individual or institution to interfere, or viciously hype up my return," Gui said. He is currently being held in a detention center, the location of which was not mentioned. Gui also said that "although I am a Swedish national, I feel that I am still Chinese and my roots are in China. I hope that the Swedish government will respect my choice, my rights and my privacy and let me solve my problem on my own." The report also noted that Gui is suspected of committing other crimes and investigations are underway. Gui was born in Ningbo in 1964, and gained Swedish citizenship in 1996. In December 2003, Gui drove some friends home after dinner, and killed the victim as he drove past a university in the city. Police confirmed that he was driving while intoxicated. The girl, surnamed Shen, was around 20 at the time of her death. Her parents had protested the sentence to the Ningbo Intermediate People's Court, requesting that Gui receive a harsher punishment. Mystery has been surrounding the whereabouts of Gui and four other booksellers. Previous reports said that Gui went missing while vacationing in Thailand in the middle of October 2015. He allegedly sent an e-mail to his printers on October 15 before he went "missing," asking his co-workers to get ready for a new book. Voluntary travel Lee Bo, another bookseller who was reported missing, has sent video footage of himself and a faxed letter to his wife, stressing that he voluntarily traveled to the mainland, Hong Kong-based Sing Tao Daily reported on January 10. Lee, 65, said in the letter that his journey to the mainland was a "personal act" and that he felt "perplexed" by the protests launched in his name. Responding to speculation and later a protest, a spokesperson for the Hong Kong government said that speculation should not be made without a full grasp of the facts while a police investigation is still underway, the South China Morning Post reported. Hong Kong's Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said at a news conference on January 4 that any efforts by law enforcement agencies from outside to enforce laws in Hong Kong would go against the Basic Law and the "one country, two systems" policy.