Seven of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy advocates yesterday had part of their convictions quashed over their roles in one of the biggest pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Jimmy Lai (黎智英), founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper; Martin Lee (李柱銘), the founding chairman of the Democratic Party; and five former pro-democracy lawmakers, including barrister Margaret Ng (吳靄儀), had been found guilty of organizing and participating an unauthorized assembly.
Lai, Lee Cheuk-yan (李卓人), Leung Kwok-hung (梁國雄) and Cyd Ho (何秀蘭) were jailed for between eight and 18 months. Martin Lee, an octogenarian nicknamed the territory’s “Father of Democracy,” Ng and Albert Ho (何俊仁) were given suspended jail sentences.
Photo: AP
Their convictions two years ago and their sentences were widely seen as another blow to the territory’s flagging democracy movement under an unprecedented crackdown by Beijing and Hong Kong authorities.
Judge Andrew Macrae said he and other judges of the Court of Appeal unanimously quashed their convictions over the charge of organizing an unauthorized assembly, but their convictions over taking part in an unauthorized assembly were upheld.
Hence, the four democracy advocates who served their jail terms in prison have had part of their sentences in the case quashed, he said.
Macrae and his colleagues said in a written judgement that an organizer must take some responsibility for or do something active to plan and arrange an action.
“An inference that because they were at the front of the procession, they must have organized it ... is not a realistic or suitable substitute for evidence that they were involved in its organization,” the judgement said.
All appellants have served out their sentences for the case, but Lai, Leung, Ho and Lee Cheuk-yan remain in custody as they were also charged under a National Security Law imposed by Beijing in 2020 following the massive protests.
Ng, Martin Lee, Lee Cheuk-yan and Ho were in the courtroom to hear the judges’ decision. Ho and Lee Cheuk-yan appeared tanned and spirited.
The charges involved a rally in August 2019 that drew an estimated 1.7 million people onto Hong Kong’s streets to call for greater police accountability and democracy.
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