Hong Kong issues arrest warrant for man who missed court dates for 2019 illegal assembly charge
Hong Kong Free Press
A Hong Kong court has issued an arrest warrant for a man facing trial over an illegal assembly during the 2019 extradition bill protests, after the defendant missed two days of trial in a row.
The defendant’s lawyer said on Tuesday that his client, Ip Tsz-kin, who was diagnosed as suicidal, went to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s accident and emergency department on Monday, The Witness reported. He stayed overnight and waited to be transferred to the psychiatric department at Kowloon Hospital the next day, the lawyer added.
The defence said it was notified of the news through Ip’s friends, and that Ip did not have a phone with him when he went to the hospital on Monday.
Ip, an insurance agent who pleaded not guilty earlier, was scheduled to appear before Acting Principal Magistrate Veronica Heung at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Monday and Tuesday.
Heung issued an arrest warrant for Ip and revoked his bail after saying that the defendant had failed to provide proof that he was admitted to the hospital, local media reported.
The magistrate also said she believed that Ip would be able to undergo treatment under police custody.
Ip was accused of taking part in an unauthorised assembly in Mong Kok on September 2, 2019.
At the time, the city was seeing protests and unrest in response to an unpopular extradition bill. The bill was later axed, but the demonstrations continued as demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.”
The protests sometimes escalated into violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s perceived encroachment.
Over 10,200 protest-related arrests were made during the months-long demonstrations, police said.
| 💡If you are in need of support, please call: The Samaritans 2896 0000 (24-hour, multilingual), Suicide Prevention Centre 2382 0000 or the Social Welfare Department 2343 2255. The Hong Kong Society of Counselling and Psychology provides a WhatsApp hotline in English and Chinese: 6218 1084. See also: HKFP’s comprehensive guide to mental health services in Hong Kong. |
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