A veteran Democrat campaigner in Hong Kong has described his legal system as an instrument of political repression, after standing trial and eight other high-profile cases in one of the biggest court cases related to the protest movement that paralyzed the city for more than a year.
“It is the Department of Justice, the Police and the Government of Hong Kong that must stand trial for depriving us of our constitutional rights,” Lee Cheuk-yan said after the day’s proceedings. “This year is the year of the ox, so we must be stubborn as an ox.”
The group is accused of organizing and participating in an unauthorized meeting in the early months of Hong Kong’s mass protests, which only ended when the outbreak of Covid-19 and a brutal repression by Beijing combined to take protesters off the streets to push. Both charges carry fines of up to five years in prison.
Other defendants include Martin Lee, who is considered the father of the democracy movement in Hong Kong, media magnate Jimmy Lai and Margaret Ng, a highly respected former lawmaker. This is the first time that Martin Lee (82) and Ng (73) are on trial. Seven of the accused pleaded not guilty to all charges.
When the case started on Tuesday in the West Kowloon Magistrate’s Court, one accused, the former deputy convener of the Civil Human Rights Front, Au Nok-hin, pleaded guilty to both charges and was found guilty according to local media. Former lawmaker Leung Yiu-chung pleaded guilty to joining the illegal assembly and was also convicted.
The pair’s case was adjourned next month for mitigation.
Lee Cheuk-yan and veteran activist Leung Kwok-hung, known as Long Hair, “shouted against political persecution!” while entering into their pleas of innocence.
In their opening statement, prosecutors accused the group of defying police orders and encouraging the crowd to pull over Hong Kong’s main island, causing traffic disruption.
Advocates for Martin Lee and another accused, Albert Ho, told the court they would submit an expert report related to police matters, RTHK reported. The Apple Daily reported that defense teams also dispute the constitutionality of the police’s ability to ban meetings, especially if protests are directed at them.
Lee Cheuk-yan said outside court on Tuesday morning that the group was fighting for the right to assemble. Before the trial, supporters and several accused gathered outside the court. One banner read: “Peaceful assembly is not a crime; shame for political persecution. ”
The charges relate to a protest on 18 August 2019, when an estimated 1.7 million people – or more than one in five Hong Kongers – marched peacefully in defiance of police orders and torrential rain. Its organizers, the Civil Human Rights Front, have been given permission to hold a rally in Victoria Park, but not for a march through the streets. The large crowd filled the park and flooded the streets, taking main roads to walk to government offices, a few miles away, and protesting against recent acts of police violence. Unlike many protests before and after the day, it remained peaceful.
Eight months later, police arrested 15 people accused of organizing the August 18 protest and two other protests, which drew international reprimands, including a UN warning. The government has said in response that it always respects and protects human rights and freedoms, but “these rights are not absolute”, and it may not unacceptably affect the enjoyment of others’ rights and freedoms.
Lee Cheuk-yan is facing three other trials this year on separate but similar charges, due to the organization of unauthorized gatherings, including a 2020 vigil for the carnage on Tiananmen Square. “I think it’s inevitable that I’m going to jail,” he said. “I think I will be lucky to win one, but the worst case scenario is that I lose all four.”
The charges during Tuesday’s trial are not related to national security, although at least one of the accused, Lai, will later face national security charges and be jailed. The case does not test the new laws that Beijing introduced with the blessing of the Hong Kong government to destroy differences of opinion and opposition, but it was nonetheless controversial.
Benjamin Yu prosecutes the group, after British QC David Perry bowed to international outrage and withdrew last month.
Martin Lee, after being arrested 15 last year, reflected on the thousands detained for their participation in protests, saying he was “proud and relieved to be listed as an accused, after having so many brilliant young people arrested “.
Lee Cheuk-yan said at the time, authorities used the pandemic as a ‘golden opportunity’ to assemble opposition figures and described the arrests as ‘revenge and retaliation’.
‘If convicted of the [participation] charges, then 1.7 million people would be guilty of participating in an unauthorized meeting, ”he said. “But this is absurd … Are you going to prosecute 1.7 million people?”