Two of five missing booksellers believed to have been held in China have returned to Hong Kong, the Hong Kong police said Sunday.
Cheung Chi Ping requested the police to cancel his missing persons case, two days after his fellow bookseller Lui Por returned to Hong Kong also asking police to close his missing persons case.
Both men requested no further help from the government or police and “refused to disclose other details,” according to police statements.
All five men were involved with publisher Mighty Current and its shop Causeway Bay Books, which sold gossipy titles about China’s elite.
The disappearance of the booksellers sparked outrage in Hong Kong and internationally over fears they were taken against their will in December by Beijing authorities. Thousands of people demonstrated in Hong Kong to demand their return.
Hong Kong authorities have said China was holding some of the men. China has repeatedly said its officials wouldn’t do anything illegal.
Lui Por and associates Cheung Chi-ping, Lam Wing-kee and Gui Minhai appeared on television Sunday admitting to “illegal book trading” in China.
Gui Minhai, the owner of Hong Kong publisher Mighty Current, ordered thousands of “unauthorized” books sent to mainland China, the other men said.
The fifth bookseller, Lee Bo, appeared on Chinese television Monday to say he hadn’t been abducted from Hong Kong. Lee said he went to China to assist police with an investigation and was free to return once the investigation had finished.
The three other booksellers are still believed to be in mainland China.
