One Freed, Four to Go

CW left: Lee Po, Gui Minhai, Lui Por, Cheung Chi-ping and Lam Wing-kee

The plight of the missing booksellers continues to raise eyebrows with breaking news tonight that one of them has returned to Hong Kong.

Lui Por is the general manager of Mighty Current, the publishing house that specializes in books critical of the Communist Party of China.

He returned today through Lo Wu immigration check point and local authorities were alerted, who then waited for him at his Tai Wai home.

In a statement released by the force, the police "met with Lui Por who returned to Hong Kong from the mainland this morning. Lui Por requested police cancel his missing person case and stated that he did not require any assistance from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government or Police. He refused to disclose other details".

Lui Por as he appeared on state television on Monday

Lui hadn't been seen since October until Monday when he and his three colleagues appeared on state television to say Gui Minhai ordered Lui and his two other associates to deliver some 4,000 books across the border since October 2014.

They would cover the books with a romance novel cover and then wrap the books in black nylon to avoid screening detection.

One wonders what kind of psychological state Lui is in and will he even seek help to deal with his ordeal of " being disappeared" for about five months.

Our next question is when the other three, including Lee Po are released and how they will be released.

Experts believe Gui could be jailed for running an illegal business in China, which carries a maximum sentence of five years. But if he is convicted of other crimes, he could be jailed for much longer.

It is frightening how people are silenced by intimidation, and it seems Lui has been told to keep quiet for his own good. While we are relieved he is back, we may never know more about his time being detained, and how he dealt with being disappeared by Chinese authorities for so long.