Swedish-Chinese publisher Gui Minhai was sentenced earlier this year to 10 years in prison in China, after allegedly bringing state secrets abroad.
He was one of a total of five employees who ran the bookstore Causeway bay books in Hong Kong, which made itself known for its range of literature that criticized mainland China. In 2015, the five colleagues were removed and disappeared. It was then clear that Minhai and his colleague Lam Wing-kee had been deprived of liberty.
"Causeway bay books were destroyed by China by violent methods," says Lam Wing-kee, according to the BBC.
After Lam Wing-Keich managed to escape, he settled in Taiwan and has long had a desire to open the bookstore again. And this weekend, the bookstore opened its doors in Taipei, the BBC reports.
"The opening of the bookstore proves that Taiwan is a place of freedom and democracy and that we have the right to read books after opening," says Lam Wing-kee, Gui Minhai's former colleague, according to the BBC.