White-paper critics who were belatedly arrested fail to escape prosecution for police obstruction
JASMINE SIUjasmine.siu@scmp.com
PUBLISHED : Saturday, 21 November, 2015, 12:00am
UPDATED : Saturday, 21 November, 2015, 12:00am
Student Joshua Wong appears at Eastern Court. Photo: Sam Tsang
Four democracy activists lost an attempt yesterday to have their trial over police obstruction axed on the basis of a 13-month lapse between the alleged offences and their arrests.
Instead, their case will proceed with a pre-trial review scheduled on December 21.
League of Social Democrats vice-chairman Raphael Wong Ho-ming, 26, People Power lawmaker Albert Chan Wai-yip, 60, Federation of Students secretary general Nathan Law Kwun-chung, 22, and Scholarism convenor Joshua Wong Chi-fung, 18, will answer charges of obstructing a police officer in the due execution of his duties during a protest at Beijing's white paper on Hong Kong outside its liaison office in Western district on June 11 last year.
Asked whether their arrests were politically motivated, Magistrate Chu Chung-keung said in Eastern Court: "None of the defendants were arrested by the police for the first time."
The four applied last month to have their proceedings stayed, questioning if an abuse of process had been committed in view of the 13-month delay.
The delay was in breach of the Basic Law, Bill of Rights and Prosecution Code and caused unfairness to them, they argued, adding it would not be in the public's interest to prosecute them.
Chu acknowledged the months-long delay was a long time, considering the evidence was not complicated.
But the magistrate said there was no abuse of process on the part of the prosecution. He suggested the defendants refresh their memories by viewing video footage that captured the event.
"A fair trial is not impossible," Chu said.
He also pointed out that the nature of the offence was not minor as it involved public safety.
Outside court, Chan said they would not rule out further appeals. "We believe we have justifiable reasons," he said. "As for the reasons and explanations provided by the magistrate, I don't think they're fully justifiable."
Also yesterday, Chu decided to step down from the case in the light of materials he had read during the stay application, including Raphael Wong's criminal record, the defendants' backgrounds and their line of defence.
Prosecutor Andrew Bruce had called the move unnecessary.
"I cannot imagine any magistrate being prejudiced by these [materials],'' he said.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1881209/hong-kong-protesters-face-trial-police-obstruction-despite
