A veteran champion of democracy in Hong Kong described his legal system as an instrument of political repression after he and eight other leading figures went on trial in one of the largest lawsuits linked to the protest movement that paralyzed the city for more than a year .
“It is the justice department, the police department and the Hong Kong government that should be tried because they deprived us of our constitutional rights,” said Lee Cheuk-yan after the day’s proceedings. “This is the year of the ox, so we must be stubborn like an ox.”
The group is accused of organizing and participating in an unauthorized assembly in the first months of the Hong Kong mass protests, which ended only when the Covid-19 outbreak and a brutal crackdown by Beijing combined to get protesters off the streets. Both charges carry sentences of up to five years in prison.
Other defendants include Martin Lee, considered the father of the Hong Kong democracy movement, media magnate Jimmy Lai and Margaret Ng, a highly respected former lawmaker. It is the first time on trial for Martin Lee, 82, and Ng, 73. Seven of the defendants have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
When proceedings began at the West Kowloon magistrates’ court on Tuesday, a defendant, the former deputy summoner of the Civil Human Rights Front, Au Nok-hin, pleaded guilty to both charges and was convicted, according to with the local media. Former lawmaker Leung Yiu-chung pleaded guilty to joining the illegal assembly and was also convicted.
The pair’s cases were postponed for mitigation next month.
Lee Cheuk-yan and veteran activist Leung Kwok-hung, known as Long Hair, shouted “object to a political process!” when entering into your innocent allegations.
In their opening statement, prosecutors accused the group of defying police instructions and encouraging crowds to march across Hong Kong’s main island, causing traffic disruption.
Martin Lee’s lawyers and another defendant, Albert Ho, told the court that they would present an expert report related to police operation issues, RTHK reported. The Apple Daily newspaper said defense teams also questioned the constitutionality of the police force’s ability to ban assemblies, especially when protests were directed at them.
Out of court on Tuesday morning, Lee Cheuk-yan told local media that the group was fighting for the right to assemble. Before the trial, supporters and several of the accused met outside the courtroom. A banner read: “Peaceful assembly is not a crime; shame for the political process. “
The charges are linked to a demonstration on August 18, 2019, when about 1.7 million people – or more than one in five Hong Kong residents – marched peacefully in defiance of police orders and torrential rains. Its organizers, the Civil Human Rights Front, were given permission to hold a demonstration in Victoria Park, but not to march through the streets. The huge crowd filled the park and spread through the streets, taking the main roads to walk to government offices a few kilometers away, protesting the recent acts of police violence. In contrast to many protests before and after that day, he remained peaceful.
Eight months later, police arrested 15 people accused of organizing the August 18 rally and two other protests, attracting international rebuke, including a UN warning. The government said in response that it has always respected and protected human rights and freedoms, but “these rights are not absolute” and should not unacceptably affect the enjoyment of others of their rights and freedoms.
Lee Cheuk-yan is facing three other trials this year on separate but similar charges for organizing unauthorized assemblies, including a 2020 vigil for the Tiananmen Square massacre. “I think it is inevitable that I go to jail,” he said. “I think I will be lucky to win one, but the worst scenario is that I will lose all four.”
The charges at Tuesday’s trial are not related to national security, although at least one of the defendants, Lai, will face national security charges at a later date and is on remand. The case does not test the new laws introduced by Beijing with the blessing of the Hong Kong government to crush dissent and opposition, but it was still controversial.
Benjamin Yu is suing the group after British QC David Perry gave in to international outrage and withdrew last month.
Speaking after the 15 were arrested last year, Martin Lee, reflecting on the thousands who were arrested for his participation in protests, said he was “proud and relieved to be listed as a defendant after seeing so many brilliant young people arrested”.
Lee Cheuk-yan said at the time that officials were using the pandemic as a “golden opportunity” to surround opposition figures and classified the prisons as “revenge and retaliation”.
“If we are found guilty of the [participation] charges, then 1.7 million people should be guilty of participating in an unauthorized assembly, ”he said. “But this is absurd … Are you going to sue 1.7 million people?”