Hong Kong democracy activist charged with misleading police over kidnap claim
Bloodstained tissue and a cigarette packet recovered at location where Lam claimed he was taken by kidnappers
A democracy activist who claimed he was kidnapped and tortured by mainland Chinese agents in Hong Kong was charged on Wednesday night with misleading police after his story unravelled during their hunt for evidence.
Howard Lam Tsz-kin’s case will be heard in Kowloon City Court on Thursday morning, but he will not make an appearance as he remains in hospital after complaining of feeling unwell.
Lam held a press conference last week claiming that he was pushed into a van in Yau Ma Tei on Thursday afternoon by Putonghua-speaking men who took him to an unknown location, punched staples into his legs and dumped him on a beach in Sai Kung from where he made his own way home in a taxi.“We received a report concerning unlawful detention, criminal intimidation and wounding. These are very serious allegations,” acting police commissioner Alan Lau Yip-shing said on Wednesday.
These are very serious allegations
“But from our investigation result so far, we found these reports made by the informant were not correct. What he said to us did not comply with what we discovered.”
Earlier on Wednesday, officers recovered a bloodstained tissue and a cigarette packet while hunting for evidence at a beach in Sai Kung.
Dozens of detectives and Police Tactical Unit officers combed the area after CCTV footage showed Lam travelling to the location on his own, instead of being taken there by kidnappers, as he had earlier claimed.
Officers were also searching for a stapler and other items linked to the case.