By James Pomfret and Jessie Pang
HONG KONG (Reuters) – A Hong Kong courtroom on Thursday convicted former pro-democracy lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting of rioting after he was attacked by a white-shirted mob in July 2019, on the top of pro-democracy protests. democracy of that 12 months.
On the night time of July 21, 2019, greater than 100 males in white shirts stormed the Yuen Lengthy MTR station within the northwest of the territory, attacking passers-by and journalists with golf equipment and sticks. Ten of the attackers have been finally convicted of rioting and conspiracy to do intentional infliction.
Lam, 47, a longtime Democratic Celebration member, was arrested 13 months after the incident and charged with rioting and inciting violence.
He advised the courtroom he rushed to the scene to assist however ended up being taken to hospital with accidents to his head, mouth, arm and wrist which required 16 to 18 stitches, after being attacked.
District Courtroom Choose Stanley Chan mentioned he didn’t imagine Lam acted as a mediator, however quite needed to realize political benefit as his Fb posts attracted extra folks like a “magnet”.
“His objective was to impress an emotional confrontation with the folks within the white shirts and fan the flames,” Chan mentioned.
Six different males: Yu Ka-ho, Jason Chan, Yip Kam-sing, Kwong Ho-lam, Wan Chung-ming and Marco Yeung have been additionally sentenced.
Some family members started to cry after the decision, whereas Lam, who had pleaded not responsible like all of the others, appeared emotionless, his arms crossed within the dock.
Throughout an almost four-hour listening to in a packed courtroom, Chan described how the boys responded by spraying fireplace hoses and fireplace extinguishers, in addition to throwing water bottles on the crowd .
He rejected arguments that some had acted in self-defense or to guard others, however had displayed “riotous conduct” that provoked additional provocation from the white-clad gang.
Chan additionally mentioned the gradual deployment of police that night time was not an “excuse to impress the opposite occasion, and even an excuse to make use of violence towards violence.”
Sentencing will happen on February 27 with a most jail time period of seven years.
As a part of the continued crackdown on dissent within the Asian monetary hub after 2019 protests, pro-democracy activists have been jailed or exiled, liberal civil society and media have been shut down, and an electoral overhaul has prevented protests. opposition Democrats to enter the elections.
International locations together with the US have criticized the crackdown, however authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong say all are handled equally underneath the regulation, and each units of nationwide safety legal guidelines handed since 2020 restored stability.
Lam is already serving a sentence of six years and 9 months for a separate nationwide safety cost.
“Such a verdict is unfair to these courageous individuals who have been attempting to forestall passengers, together with myself, from being attacked by (the) crowd wearing white shirts, and constitutes an act of self-defense,” Galileo mentioned Cheng, a journalist injured within the assault. , advised Reuters.
(This story has been corrected to replicate that ten of the attackers have been convicted and never jailed, in paragraph 2.)
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