Homeless people living in tents built by poles and sheets under a bridge in Sham Shui Po, Kowloon. - Photo: ST file
HONG KONG: A judge in Hong Kong jailed six policemen on Thursday (Oct 17) for harassing homeless people, following a rare criminal conviction of law enforcement in the Chinese financial hub.
Judge Kathie Cheung sentenced the police officers to prison terms ranging from 25 to 41 months over multiple charges of "perverting the course of justice".
The charges are related to a 2020 incident in which the officers raided the tents of two homeless Vietnamese men, Nguyen Van Son and Le Van Muoi, arresting them on suspicion of possessing a knife as well as illegal drugs.
In a judgement issued last month, Cheung found that the officers had deliberately covered surveillance cameras near the tents.
Footage of the incident showed the empty hands of one of the homeless men during his arrest, contradicting the written account by police that he had been holding illegal drugs.
"I found the sole reasonable inference is that they had decided to trump up a charge against [Le]," Cheung said in her judgement.
The judge said the officers had "abused their powers ... breached the public trust in the police and damaged the public confidence in the judicial system".
Following his arrest, Le was held in a psychiatric centre, where he died.
Homelessness is a growing problem in the wealthy city, with the official number of people living on the streets rising from 595 to 1,470 over the past decade.
Being chased away or having their belongings seized were among the major concerns of homeless people, according to a 2021 survey, but officials were seldom held accountable. - AFP
