A Hong Kong court yesterday found four people guilty of rioting after the legislature of the financial center was stormed during pro-democracy protests in 2019.
The verdict comes after eight others had pleaded guilty to charges over the incident when hundreds of protesters besieged Hong Kong’s Legislative Council (LegCo) building on July 1, 2019.
The incursion into the seat of government for the Special Administrative Region followed a protest march against a proposed extradition bill that would have allowed authorities to send individuals to China for trial.
Photo: AP
District Court Judge Li Chi-ho (李志豪) found Ho Chun-yin (何俊諺), actor Gregory Wong (王宗堯), Ng Chi-yung (吳志勇) and Lam Kam-kwan (林錦均) guilty of rioting. Ho, who has a mild intellectual disability, cried inside the courtroom after the verdict was read.
Lam was also convicted of criminal damage, while reporters Wong Ka-ho (黃家豪) and Ma Kai-chung (馬啟聰) were acquitted of rioting, but found guilty of “entering or staying in the precincts of the chamber.”
Li wrote in a verdict that he did not deny that Wong Ka-ho and Ma Kai-chung were reporting, but disagreed with their belief that reporters could stay and record the incident.
During the trial, Gregory Wong told the court that he had entered the legislative council solely to deliver two chargers to reporters who were covering the break-in by protesters.
Gregory Wong left the chamber immediately after delivering the chargers to a reporter in a yellow vest, video evidence played by the prosecution showed.
Li said Gregory Wong could have met the reporter outside the Legislative Council, so as to not “take risk to get in, and serve the purpose of helping others.”
“I did not ignore his identity as an artist,” Li wrote. “With his own fame, he can attract the attention of demonstrators, so as to promote, assist or encourage the riots.”
Lam told the court he was detained in China in August 2019 following the storming of LegCo, during which he was forced to write a repentance letter.
Three Hong Kong police officers met him in the nearby Chinese city of Shenzhen, across from the Hong Kong border, and said he had to cooperate or else he would not be able to return to Hong Kong. Police officers denied his claims during a cross-examination by the defense.
Eight people who earlier pleaded guilty to rioting included former University of Hong Kong student union president Althea Suen (孫曉嵐), and democracy advocates Ventus Lau (劉?匡) and Owen Chow (鄒家成).
Hong Kong’s district court sets a maximum of seven years in prison for rioting.
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