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Hong Kong murder suspect who sparked extradition bill crisis ‘essentially a free man’, admits city’s leader Carrie Lam
- Chan Tong-kai lives under police protection in Hong Kong safe house
- He is wanted in Taiwan in connection with death of pregnant girlfriend Poon Hiu-wing in 2018
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The murder suspect who triggered last year’s extradition bill crisis was a free man who had paid his debt to Hong Kong society and there was little the government could do to change that, Hong Kong’s leader admitted on Tuesday.
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Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor also declined to say whether authorities could do anything to get Chan Tong-kai to Taiwan so he could surrender, something he previously said he planned to do.
Chan, who is under police protection in a Hong Kong safe house, is wanted on the self-ruled island in connection with the 2018 killing of his 19-year-old pregnant girlfriend, Poon Hiu-wing, in Taipei.
His case returned to the spotlight earlier this month when the victim’s mother broke her silence to urge her daughter’s suspected killer to turn himself in.
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Lam said last week she believed Chan remained committed to facing justice in Taiwan when the political climate and the coronavirus crisis allowed it.
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