Missing HK bookseller considered suicide 'many times' in China

Mr Lam's shop, Causeway Bay Books, was known for selling books about Chinese politics

A Hong Kong bookseller who went missing last year says he considered taking his own life many times while in custody in China.

Lam Wing Kee, 61, was the manager of a well-known bookstore that sold titles critical of the Chinese leadership. Mr Lam was one of five booksellers who were imprisoned for months in cases that made international headlines.


He believes they were taken by an elite Chinese law enforcement group which targeted authors and booksellers. One of the men, Gui Minhai, is still in custody.

Mr Lam, who was released on Tuesday, was the owner the Causeway Bay Bookstore before it was purchased by Mr Gui in 2004.

Mr Lam told the BBC that he was accused after his arrest last October of trying to overthrow the Chinese government by mailing books to the mainland.

"They never told what the punishment for selling illegal books could be, or how long it might be. I had no idea. They could have sentenced me without consulting any sort of legal standard.