Hong Kong court cites activist’s ‘conduct and statements’ after adoption of national security law in denying bail before trial

He said a pretrial hearing was likely to be held in February next year, with the trial expected to commence “in the second half of 2024” at the more spacious West Kowloon Court, where the foreign collusion case involving media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying is being heard.

Details of Thursday’s bail hearing were exempt from statutory reporting restrictions after the judge lifted the curbs at the request of the media.

Hong Kong Tiananmen vigil group trio was denied fair trial, senior counsel says

Chow, 35, a barrister by profession, is set to stand trial before a panel of three High Court judges for allegedly inciting subversion alongside the now-folded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China.

The same charge also targets two of the group’s now-detained senior members: chairman Lee Cheuk-yan, 66; and vice-chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan, 72.

Prosecutors have accused the alliance of undermining China’s ruling system by seeking to overthrow the central government controlled by the Communist Party.

A redacted police report earlier disclosed in related proceedings alleged the annual candlelight vigil commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown was intended to provoke public hatred towards authorities in an effort to revive that year’s democratic movement in mainland China.

Chow had made multiple bids for temporary release at the lower magistrates’ court but to no avail. The string of unsuccessful attempts eventually prompted Principal Magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen to require Chow to first seek the court’s written consent to a bail hearing before she could renew her application.

Her counsel, Cheung Yiu-leung, on Thursday pushed forward an interpretation of the Beijing-decreed legislation that would render one not liable for “the peaceful expression of thought, speech, belief and opinion”.

He described Chow as a mild advocate for democracy who was neither affiliated with the city’s localists nor the independence movement.

Student jailed over plan to display seditious banner in Hong Kong

“Looking at her speeches in her past, her acts, she is 100 per cent modest,” Cheung said. “She has very strong opinions on certain things, but she is 100 per cent modest.”

Cheung also referred to a 15-page report, published in May 2023 by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council, on what it deemed to be the “arbitrary detention” of Chow, but Chan snubbed that submission.

“If you wish to make a political statement, make it outside,” the judge said.

Agnes Chow ‘not the only national security law suspect allowed to leave city’

Another reason for Chow’s bail bid, the court heard, was for her to better communicate with an overseas expert on the Chinese constitution who the defence intended to engage in the pending trial.

But William Siu Kai-yip, acting senior assistant director of public prosecutions, said the prison service had never blocked any request by Chow’s lawyers or friends to meet the detained activist, noting she had more than 490 meetings with visitors during her incarceration.

“The defendant can arrange as many visits as she wishes to,” Siu said. “That would not be a ground for granting her bail.”

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Гонконг Происшествия и Катастрофы

отрицание спасение заявление активист поведение принятие закон национальный безопасность Западный Колумбийский суд предвыборный