Today Hong Kong’s pro-democracy party Demosisto (香港眾志) denounced at a press conference the arbitrary detention by China’s public security officials of two of its members.
According to Demosisto chairman Ivan Lam (林朗彥), one member of the party was detained by public security on March 26 at around 6 p.m. at Shenzhen North Station while he was returning to Hong Kong after visiting relatives in mainland China.
The person was surrounded by a dozen officers and taken to a police station, where his hands and feet were shackled to a chair. He was interrogated for about 3 hours. He was asked whether he had participated in a pro-democracy demonstration on China’s National Day (October 1). He was also asked to write down a list of Demosisto party members. He was released at 9 p.m.
Another Demosisto party member was detained on August 17 at Guangzhou Railway Station. He was told that he “had been reported” by somebody. He was taken to a room at Liuhua Hotel.
The police used a lie-detector during the interrogation. He was asked questions about Demosisto and whether he had participated in pro-democracy demonstrations. He, too, was requested to write down a list of Demosisto members. After he refused to comply, the officers threatened him and forced him to sign a written apology.
He was also asked whether Demosisto secretary-general Joshua Wong had received by US organizations an iPhone 5 and money for phone fees during the 2014 Occupy Central movement. He was released after 5 hours at about 1 a.m.
Demosisto condemned the Chinese police’s detention of its members and decided to hold a press conference after consulting with lawyers. For security reasons the identity of the detained party members were not disclosed.
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