The High Court continued to deal with the cases of the democratic primary election in which the defendants were originally released on bail but had to be reviewed by the Department of Justice. It ruled that the Department of Justice lost the review of the case against the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the ADPL, Mr. Sze Tak-lai and Mr. Ho Kai-ming, as well as the former executive committee member of the Civic Party and the current District Councilor, Mr. Lee Yu-sun, who were released on bail pending trial. It means that among the 47 defendants who initiated or participated in the democratic primary election, a total of 11 were released on bail pending trial, while 36 had to return to scabbard until May 31 when they will be arraigned again, continuing to face the situation of imprisonment before trial.
West Kowloon President Judge So Wai Tak ruled that 15 of the 47 pro-democracy defendants were released on bail after a series of four days of arraignments since the first of this month, but the Department of Justice rarely requested a review of bail for 11 of them in real Time. High Court Judge To Lai-Bing handled the review in three days from last Thursday. As a result, the judge rejected the Department of Justice’s review of seven of them and ruled that former Democratic Party lawmakers Wong Pik-wan, Cheng Tat-hong, Pang Cheuk-kee, Ko Yiu-lam, Shih Tak-lai, Ho Kai-ming and Lee Yu-sun were released on bail on different personnel and cash bonds, but the original basic bail conditions remained unchanged, namely, not to commit acts that might violate the Hong Kong National Security Law, and not to organize or participate in any activities. They are also required to surrender their travel documents and report for duty on time.
The four people who were successfully reviewed by the Department of Justice and returned to scabbard pending trial are former Civic Party lawmakers Tam Man-ho and Kwok Ka-ki, Tuen Mun District Councilor Cheung Ho-sum and Yuen Long District Councilor Ng Kin-wai. The judge said that there is no sufficient reason to believe that the above four people will not continue to commit acts against national security, so the Department of Justice was granted a review.
Together with the 31 defendants whose bail applications were denied by the Chief Justice and failed to be reviewed, and the legal scholar Tai Yiu-ting, who withdrew his bail application, a total of 36 people have to be returned to scabbard prison until the end of May pending trial.
The last day of the hearing today, there are still about 50 people waiting in line, while a large number of police officers are on guard outside the courtroom, and many police cars are parked outside the High Court on Admiralty Road.
The 47 people who initiated or participated in last year’s pro-democracy primary election were charged with conspiracy to subvert state power for violating the Hong Kong National Security Law.
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