Hong Kong police condemned Friday pro-democracy activist Agnes Chow for jumping bail after leaving the territory to study in Canada in September and vowed to pursue her "for life" to bring her to justice.
Under an agreement with the police, Chow was originally scheduled to report back to Hong Kong on Thursday but announced earlier this month that she would remain in Canada for fear of being detained and would likely never return to the former British colony.
"Fugitives will be pursued for life unless they turn themselves in before it is too late for regrets," the police said in an email response to Kyodo News, strongly condemning her "shameful acts of absconding."
Warning that fugitives "should not have any delusion that they could evade legal liabilities by absconding from Hong Kong," they pledged to "spare no effort" in bringing her to justice in accordance with the law.
Chow's parents were brought in to assist the police investigation Friday morning as her mother had been the guarantor of the 27-year-old's bail, local media reported, citing a source familiar with the case. The pair was seen leaving a police station around noon, according to the South China Morning Post report.
Chow was convicted alongside fellow activists Joshua Wong and Ivan Lam over their involvement in a pro-democracy protest on June 21, 2019, in which mostly young protesters besieged the city's police headquarters.
The protest occurred amid an intensifying anti-government movement spurred by a surge of opposition to the Hong Kong government's now-withdrawn plan to allow suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial.
Chow was one of the leaders of the 2014 Umbrella Movement that called for democratic change in the semiautonomous region. Between 2019 and 2020, she, along with Wong and other members of the advocacy group Demosisto, worked to bring international attention to the city's pro-democracy movement.
Her fluent, self-taught Japanese language skills and activism via social media have helped her become popular in Japan, where some media have dubbed her the "Goddess of Democracy."
Related coverage:
Hong Kong activist Chow recalls terrifying time in China before fleeing
Democracy activist Agnes Chow in Canada, not to return to Hong Kong
H.K. media tycoon Jimmy Lai's landmark national security trial begins
