Ex-UK consulate employee visited massage parlor three times before detention: police video

Source:Global Times Published: 2019/11/21 18:04:31 Last Updated: 2019/11/21 22:39:46


Videos Shenzhen police sent to the Global Times on Thursday showed a former employee of the British Consulate General in Hong Kong visited a massage club three times before his detention in August, and he told police he chose not to inform his family as he felt ashamed. 

The videos came after Simon Cheng Man-kit, the former employee of the UK's Hong Kong consulate, claimed to have been tortured by police but dodged the question on whether he had solicited prostitutes during interviews with Western media. 

Cheng was seen visiting a club three times between July and August, and each time he checked into a room accompanied by a woman and left shortly afterwards. 

Video of surveillance cameras at the club showed Cheng in a black polo shirt arriving at the club at 5:52 pm on July 23, and he went into a room six minutes later accompanied by a woman. He left the club at 8:18 pm. 

He visited the club again at 6:21 pm on July 31 in the same shirt and walked into a room shortly after with a woman. He left the club at 8:43 pm. 

He went to the club a third time at around 6:40 pm on August 8, entered a room, and left at around 9 pm. 

Cheng, in an orange detention uniform on a sofa, told police that he chose not to inform his family because he felt ashamed when asked why he refused to inform his family and lawyers about the incident. 

He said he was terribly ashamed of himself as his friends would not have believed what he did.

"I was ashamed to go back to see my girlfriend and family," Cheng said in the video. 

"I felt remorse and deeply shameful for the incident, and I will correct my mistakes and not repeat them," Cheng said. 

The two-minute video shows the opposite of what Cheng previously claimed, which is that he had done nothing regrettable to the people he cherishes and loves. 

The video shows Cheng's articulation was natural and there was no sign that he was coerced to recite the confession. 

In a second video Shenzhen police provided to the Global Times, two women with their faces pixelated confessed that they provided illegal sex services to Cheng at his request and that Cheng promised to offer more tips if they provided the services. 

Police stressed that there was no torture in the case, and police interrogated and detained him in strict accordance with the law. And the health check before his release on August 24 showed that he was in good physical condition. 

Cheng was given 15 days' administrative detention by Shenzhen police for violating China's regulations on public security management. Police in Luohu district said Cheng was detained for 15 days for soliciting prostitutes.

In a statement on Wednesday on his Facebook account, Cheng denied the accusations, saying that they were obtained through an illegal process, including torture, threats and coercion. He said that "I got a massage for relaxation." 

When asked by the BBC whether he ever solicited prostitutes, he dodged the question by saying he did not want to focus on the question because that was exactly what the police wanted.

After the video of him visiting the club went viral, Chinese netizens mocked Cheng for humiliating himself as he dared not answer the questions directly when asked by the BBC journalist, then was exposed a day later by another video.

"A man soliciting prostitutes attempted to turn himself into a victim of political persecution by fabricating stories for the Western world. That's just hilarious," a netizen said.   

Back in August, Western media extensively reported on the case in which Cheng "went missing" during his trip to Shenzhen and linked the incident to the situation in Hong Kong in an attempt which observers said to politicize the case.  

On Wednesday's media briefing, Geng Shuang, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, stressed that the Chinese public security department guaranteed Cheng's legal rights during his administrative detention in August, and that he had admitted his offences. 

Global Times 




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