Hundreds of Hong Kong citizens queued up for a bench at the High Court on March 6, in solidarity with the 11 pro-democracy defendants whose bail applications were reviewed by the Department of Justice.
Hong Kong
Eleven of the 47 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists charged with “conspiracy to subvert state power” had their bail review hearing on Saturday, but the judge decided to postpone the review hearing until next week because the prosecution is still preparing additional documents. Some legal scholars have criticized the high bail threshold of the National Security Law, which allows the defendants to be detained for several months regardless of whether the prosecution is successful or not, for fear of causing the police to abuse their power and prosecute at will.
In the case of the 47-member Legislative Council primary election, the defendants were charged by the police with conspiracy to subvert state power. The prosecution said there were 400 items of digital data to be verified and a large number of financial transactions to be investigated. Application for adjournment of the case for three months to May 31, and oppose the defendants bail. Lawyers representing the defendants objected to the prosecution’s request to hold all defendants in custody for three months before completing the investigation, which is inconsistent with the common law principle of presumption of innocence and unfair to the defendants, and filed bail applications.
The 47 defendants applied for bail after 4 days and 4 nights, after nearly 40 hours of marathon hearings, the designated judge in charge of the case, President Judge So Wai Tak announced the bail ruling on Thursday night (March 4), originally approved 15 of the defendants to go out on bail under very harsh conditions, is unprecedented in the judicial history of Hong Kong, but also the first Time So Wai Tak approved the National Security Law defendants in court to obtain bail.
However, the prosecution then said the Department of Justice applied for a review of the judge’s decision to grant bail to the 15 defendants, requesting that the defendants remain in custody.
A night later, the Department of Justice announced on Friday (March 5) that it was withdrawing its review of four of the defendants, including Eastern District Councilor Yeung Suet Ying, barrister Lau Wai Chung, social worker Lui Chi Hang and Abu Thai Lifestyle Department Store founder Lam King Nam, who were granted bail that night.
The remaining 11 defendants, including District Councilors Cheng Tat-hong, Pang Cheuk-kee, Ho Kai-ming, Lee Yu-sun, Cheung Ho-sum, Ng Kin-wai, Sze Tak-lai, Ko Yiu-lam; former Legislative Councilor Wong Pik-wan, Kwok Ka-ki and Tam Man-ho, were subject to a “directions hearing” by the High Court of First Instance on Saturday (March 6) in three batches for bail review by the National Security Law Designated Judge The court is now in session.
She said at the hearing that she was aware that the prosecution was still preparing additional documents, and to ensure a fair decision on the bail review for each defendant, she wanted to start the review hearing only after receiving all relevant documents from the Department of Justice and the defence for the hearing, and therefore decided to postpone the review hearing to next Thursday (March 11) and Saturday (March 13).
Senior barrister Poon Hei, representing Cheng Tat-hong, requested in court that the defendants be granted provisional bail, but was refused by To Lai-Bing, who also said that the other defendants would have to remain in custody until next Thursday or Saturday, and that the court would later determine the date and time of the bail review hearing for each defendant.
A large number of police officers were on guard at the entrance and exit of the High Court, and issued tickets to some of the people waiting for the gallery for the anti-Epidemic restriction order. (Voice of America’s Tang Hui Yun)
Hundreds of people began lining up outside the High Court on Saturday morning to observe the review of the directions hearing in solidarity with the 47 pro-democracy defendants.
Mrs. Fok, who brought her 6-year-old daughter to the High Court to show solidarity, said in an interview with Voice of America that Hong Kong will become worse and worse, and she hopes to bring her daughter to witness that now Hong Kong people still have a chance to speak out and stand up for themselves against the unreasonable and unjust trial under the National Security Law.
Mrs. Fok said that this time, the democratic camp “Legislative Council primary election 47 people case”, from January 6, the beginning of the big search is very unreasonable, she thinks it is a “political show”, trying to scare the people of Hong Kong dare not come out again to oppose, however, Mrs. Fok believes that, from Monday onwards However, Mrs. Fok believes that from Monday onwards, there are hundreds or even thousands of people every day, to the court outside in solidarity, proving that Hong Kong people will still stand up to resistance.
Mrs. Fok said that the implementation of the National Security Law for more than eight months has produced a certain deterrent effect in society, she said frankly worried that her daughter from elementary school to receive national security Education will be “brainwashed”, so to bring her to understand that Hong Kong people’s campaign for democracy and freedom did not stop because of the implementation of the National Security Law, she also believes that the greater the suppression, will only make the resistance She also believes that the greater the suppression, the greater the resistance.
Kenneth Chan, Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations, Hong Kong Baptist University (VOA)
He said the implementation of the National Security Law in Hong Kong has been in effect for more than eight months, and Beijing has been purging and liquidating all opposition forces in Hong Kong for the 2019 anti-Send-China movement.
Chen said that after the implementation of the National Security Law, Hong Kong’s freedom of expression has been significantly narrowed, and it is not easy for the public to take to the streets to voice their opinions, and in the past week, there were hundreds or even thousands of people outside the court building to show their solidarity in the case of the 47-member Legislative Council primary election, reflecting that Beijing and even the Hong Kong government are still unpopular, and that is why Beijing has to significantly revise Hong Kong’s electoral system.
In an interview with Radio Television Hong Kong on Friday (March 5), Professor Chan Man-man, Chair of Public Law at the University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Law, criticized the inhumane arrangement of the 47-member Legislative Council primary election case of the pro-democracy camp, in which the defendants had a marathon hearing for four days in a row, and some of them fainted in the courtroom and were not even allowed to take a shower and change clothes in the detention center for many days.
Chen Wenmin, chair professor of public law at the University of Hong Kong Law School.
Chen Wenmin said that the national security law has changed a very important principle of common law in Hong Kong, that is, the presumption of innocence, the defendant has become the presumption of “no bail”, to prove to the judge that the period of bail will not violate the national security law, regardless of whether the prosecution is successful, the prosecution can also detain the defendant for several months, he is concerned that the police abuse of power, arbitrary prosecution.
Executive Council member Ronald Tong said in an interview with Radio Television Hong Kong that he believes that the judge in the 47-person case is more difficult than the defendants, and questioned the defendants’ intention to “win the sympathy of the community” through court statements to win bail opportunities. He also said that the defendants can apply to the court to postpone the trial in exchange for rest time, he believes that the defendants did not exercise this power, so do not blame the judge improper arrangements.
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