Hong Kong student cleared of rioting in 2019 to see retrial after gov’t successfully appeals acquittal
Hong Kong Free Press
A student earlier found not guilty of rioting during the 2019 protests will stand trial again after the government won an appeal against his acquittal.
Lee Chun-ho, a student at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University at the time of the alleged offence, appeared at the High Court on Wednesday before a panel of three judges.
The judges sided with the government’s Department of Justice (DoJ) in ruling that District Court judge Clement Lee, who presided over his case in 2021, had delivered a verdict that was contradictory.
The case will be returned to the District Court, with a mention scheduled for September. In the meantime, Lee Chun-ho will need to abide by bail conditions including handing over his travel documents and reporting to the police station once a month, The Witness reported.
Lee Chun-ho’s case featured four people charged with rioting at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in November 2019, when the city was in the midst of protests and unrest over a controversial extradition bill.
Lee Chun-ho and Chan Hey-hang were found not guilty in July 2021, while the other two were found guilty. The DoJ lodged an appeal less than a week later against the two acquittals.
According to The Witness, Chan has left Hong Kong, and the DoJ did not continue its appeal.
DoJ’s argument
When District Court judge Lee handed down the not-guilty rulings three years ago, he said there was insufficient evidence on how long Lee Chun-ho and Chan Hey-hang had stayed at the scene of the riot, or any speech or action showing they had taken part in the riot, inMedia reported.
The judge also said the officers who arrested Lee Chun-ho gave testimony that conflicted with footage of the incident.
On Wednesday, the DoJ said the District Court judge had been overly fixated on the lack of evidence on when Lee arrived at the scene. He was at the core area when he was arrested, as well as wearing black clothing an in possession of supplies including cling wrap. This was enough to conclude that he was participating in a riot, the DoJ said.
Regarding the testimony of the officer who arrested Lee, the DoJ said it did not doubt the judge’s belief of the statement’s trustworthiness. But even disregarding the testimony, other evidence was enough to support a guilty verdict, the DoJ added.
Delivering the ruling, Court of Appeal judge Anthea Pang said there was no need for evidence on when Lee arrived at the scene. Regardless of the time, he ought to have known he was part of a riot given his location, Pang said.
Pang added that the District Court judge did not point to evidence suggesting that Lee was unaware that a riot was going on, which contradicted his delivery of a not-guilty verdict.
A total of 10,279 were arrested in connection with the protests in 2019, many of them students. As of the end of last year, 2,937 people had been charged.
The government has attempted to challenge the acquittals of some who were found not guilty, among them high-profile activists. The Court of Appeal will hear an appeal by the DoJ against the acquittal of the Democratic Party chair Lo Kin-hei, who was cleared of an unlawful assembly charge in November.
Separately, social worker Jackie Chen faces a retrial after being found not guilty by a District Court judge. The Court of Appeal sided with the DoJ last year in ruling that the original judge was “plainly wrong” in acquitting her.
Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.”
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