CRI听力:"Missing" Hong Kong Bookseller Turns Himself in to Police

Appearing in a televised interview by China Central TV, Gui Minhai admitted that he turned himself in to mainland police last October.

"This is my due responsibility. I do not want anyone or any institution to be involved or get in the way of my returning. Although I now hold Swedish citizenship, I still think of myself as Chinese. My roots are in China. I hope the Swedish authorities will respect my personal choices, my rights, and my privacy, and allow me to deal with my own issues."

Gui is the owner of Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong.

On a night in December of 2003, Gui struck and killed a female college student in Zhejiang province.

Gui was then convicted of drunk driving and sentenced to two years in prison with a two-year reprieve in August 2004.

A police officer dealing with the case still remembers the tragic accident.

"As you can see from Gui Minhai's Blood Alcohol Test report, he was driving with 1.14 milligrams of alcohol per milliliter of blood. This is well above the legal limit of drunk driving."

At that time, family members of the victim voiced objection to Gui's sentences and demanded harsher punishment.

As such, Gui said he decided to flee abroad using fake ID, as he was worried that he would eventually end up in jail.

In the following years, Gui has teamed up with partners to engage in business abroad.

The turning point came when Gui failed to see his sick father who died in last June.

"As an escaped prisoner, I could not go back to see my parents. They are both over 80 years old. In 2015, my father died of cancer, and I even lost the chance to attend his funeral. And my mother also fell sick. I really want to see her again while she's still alive.

So, I decided to turn myself in and I am willing to accept any punishment."

Police investigation suggests that Gui is also linked with other crimes, and further probes are still underway.

For CRI, I am Wang Mengzhen.