THE top court here has dismissed a bid from seven prominent pro-democracy figures, including media tycoon Jimmy Lai, to overturn their convictions for taking part in an unauthorised assembly that drew nearly two million participants.
The conviction centred on a peaceful August 2019 march through the city at the height of Hong Kong’s democracy protests that went ahead in defiance of a police ban.
The defendants, who include some of the most recognisable faces of Hong Kong’s now-quashed democracy movement, were cleared by a lower court of organising the rally, which was attended by an estimated 1.7 million people.
Four of them – newspaper publisher Lai, rights lawyer Albert Ho, activist and ex-lawmaker “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung, and unionist Lee Cheuk-yan – are serving time on various other charges, including national security offences, after being caught up in the wide-ranging crackdown that followed the 2019 protests.
In their appeal, the seven had contended that non-violent demonstrators should not be convicted as it would interfere with the right to peaceful protest.
Their lawyers argued that Hong Kong – a former British colony with common law courts – should follow the precedent set by the UK’s Supreme Court that protest-related convictions should be proportionate, taking into account human rights protections.
But judges at the Court of Final Appeal, including David Neuberger, a former president of the UK Supreme Court, unanimously ruled against them yesterday.
Agreeing with the main judgment written by two local judges, Neuberger said the case concerned “a constitutionally significant, but limited and technical, issue” and arguments that “the court should have satisfied itself of the proportionality of the decisions... appear to me to be misconceived”.
Lai, Leung, Lee and former lawmaker Cyd Ho had been sentenced to between eight and 18 months behind bars in the case.
The other three defendants – Albert Ho, Democratic Party founder Martin Lee and barrister Margaret Ng – were given suspended sentences. — AFP
