JEFFIE LAM JEFFIE.LAM@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 22 September, 2015, 1:27pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 22 September, 2015, 2:05pm
Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang is summoned as a defence witness to explain why he called the police during protesters’ storming of the Admiralty complex last year. Photo: Nora Tam
Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing will testify in a trial around 3pm today involving 12 Hongkongers who face charges of barging into the legislature’s premises to protest at the government’s plans for new towns in the northeastern New Territories.
In a 1½-hour meeting of the Legco Commission this morning, all the members who were present agreed that their chairman Tsang should appear before the court.
“Hongkongers would think Legco had something to hide if we insisted the president should not testify in court,” a commission source said.
The 12 defendants have pleaded not guilty to one count of unlawful assembly and another of attempted forcible entry. Two of them have also denied an extra count of obstructing a Legco officer.
Both Tsang and deputy commission chairman Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen received court summonses to appear as defence witnesses to explain their decision to call the police on June 13 last year, when protesters stormed the Legco complex in Admiralty.
The commission’s lawyer later filed an application to strike down the pair’s summonses.
But Eastern Court Magistrate Jason Wan Siu-ming ruled last week that Tsang, though not Leung, must testify in the trial.
Wan said Tsang was “the most suitable” person and “the court should give the defendants a chance to raise questions”.
It was understood that some commission members from the pro-establishment camp had reservations about sending Tsang to court, but all agreed he should give evidence as filing another application would only incur further legal costs and affect the public’s impression of Legco.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1860334/legislative-president-jasper-tsang-testify-defence-over
