12 Dec 2023獨媒#2649
11.2灣仔衝突 4人暴動罪成 判囚34至45個月
On November 2, 2019, pro-democracy district council election candidates called for an election gathering in Victoria Park. Police dispersed the gathering, and protesters moved to the Wan Chai area to block roads. Eight people denied charges including riot. Four were previously acquitted, while the other four were convicted and sentenced today (the 12th) at the District Court to between 34 and 45 months in prison. Judge Chun Man (OIAP) Li said that, in addition to personally encouraging others, some defendants had also supplied equipment, making their roles leading ones and warranting heavier sentences. Judge Lee also took into account that more than four years had elapsed from the incident to the conclusion of the case. Although this did not constitute delay, it had affected defendants who had started new lives, and she therefore exercised discretion to reduce each defendant’s sentence by three months. One defendant was also convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice for allegedly trying to leave Hong Kong while awaiting trial. Judge Lee said she had bought a private charter flight ticket at a high price and applied for a loan before departure, clearly intending to leave Hong Kong for an extended period to evade trial. The offence was serious, and she was sentenced to 12 months in prison for it.
2019年11月2日，民主派區選候選人號召維園選舉聚會，遭警方驅散，示威者轉至灣仔一帶堵路。8人否認暴動等罪，早前4人罪脫，另4人則罪成，今（12日）於區域法院分別被判囚34至45個月。法官李俊文指，有被告除親身鼓勵外，同時為裝備供應者，其角色算是主導，刑責亦較重。另外，李官考慮到由案發至結案已超過4年，雖然不屬延誤，但對已開展新生活的被告有影響，故對各被告酌情減刑3個月。其中一被告涉候審期間企圖離港，另被裁定企圖妨礙司法公正罪成。李官指她高價購買私人包機機票，更在出發前申請貸款，明顯打算長期離港逃避審訊，屬案情嚴重，就此罪判囚12個月。
11 Dec 2023獨媒#2642
涉前年立會選舉煽惑投白票 中大學生會前會長蘇浚鋒稱控罪不合憲申上訴
The former president of the CUHK Students’ Union, So Tsun-fung, was charged with one count of inciting others to cast blank votes after reposting on Facebook during the 2021 Legislative Council election a post by Ted Hui calling on people to cast blank votes. He challenged the constitutionality of the relevant legislation during trial. After acting magistrate Kennis Chiu Ki Tai ruled that the legislation was constitutional, Siu changed his plea to guilty and was sentenced to two months’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months. According to High Court information, Siu applied last Friday (December 8) to appeal by way of case stated. No hearing date has yet been set.
中大學生會前會長蘇浚鋒涉於2021年立法會選舉期間，在 Facebook 轉載許智峯籲投白票的貼文，被控一項煽惑他人投白票罪。他在審訊中爭議條例的合憲性，暫委裁判官戴昭琦裁定條例合憲之後，蘇改為認罪，被判囚2個月，緩刑18個月。據高院資料，蘇於上周五（12月8日）以案件呈述方式申請上訴。案件暫未有聆訊日期。
9 Dec 2023法庭線#2629
11.18理大｜4人暴動罪成、2人無罪 官信納1人為急救員「有救無類」
At about 5am on 18 November 2019, police arrested a number of people on Cheong Wan Road outside PolyU, who were charged with rioting and other offences. Six pleaded not guilty and stood trial. The case was adjudicated in the District Court on Saturday (9th), with four convicted of rioting and two acquitted.
Judge Dominic Wai Kuen Lam accepted that one defendant was a first aider who treated injured people based on the principle of helping anyone in need. Another female defendant went to the scene to urge her boyfriend to leave, but was convicted of the offence of wearing a mask because she was wearing a gas mask, and fined $5,000.
The judge rejected the evidence of the other four defendants. One defendant was wearing a crop top and make-up at the time of the incident; the defence argued that her appearance did not resemble that of a protester. The judge said protesters had different styles: “Some may dress like a warrior, but others may dress casually, as they would in everyday life.” The judge also rejected the defendants’ claims that they had passed through PolyU, gone onto the campus to seek inspiration and information for their assignments, and sat quietly there. Four were convicted of rioting and the mask offence. The case was adjourned to 23 December, when the four will be sentenced together with defendants who pleaded guilty earlier; they were remanded in custody in the meantime.
2019 年 11 月 18 日清晨 5 時許，警方於理大對出暢運道拘捕多人，被控以暴動等罪。其中 6 人不認罪受審，案件周六（9 日）在區域法院裁決。4 人暴動罪成、 2 人獲判無罪。
法官林偉權信納一被告為急救員，基於仁濟理念救治傷者；另一女被告則到現場勸籲男友離開，但她因戴上防毒面罩，被裁定蒙面罪成，罰款 5,000 元。
法官拒納另 4 名被告的證供，有被告案發時穿露臍裝和化妝，辯方稱打扮不似示威者，但法官認為示威者各有打扮，「有人會扮得像個戰士，但也有人穿得隨便，如日常般」；法官亦不接納被告稱行經理大，為功課在校園內尋找靈感、資料及靜坐，裁定 4 人暴動和蒙面罪成。案件押後至 12 月 23 日， 4 人連同早前認罪的被告一併判刑，期間須還押。
9 Dec 2023法庭線#2630
11.18理大外非法集結 14人囚9至14月 1人判入勞教中心 官：預先計劃有備而來
On 18 November 2019, police surrounded protesters inside the Polytechnic University, while members of the public gathered to show support in the area around the Hong Kong Science Museum in Tsim Sha Tsui. A number of people were charged with unlawful assembly. In a case involving 20 people, one pleaded guilty before trial, while the remaining 19 were convicted after pleading not guilty and standing trial. Four were sentenced on Friday, and the remaining 15 were sentenced on Saturday (the 9th) at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court, sitting in place of the District Court.
Acting judge Ada Shun Yee Yim said the case had been planned in advance and that the defendants had come prepared; otherwise, more than 100 people could not have gathered within a short period. The judge also said the protesters had attempted to storm PolyU or support those trapped inside, and that an unlawful assembly with this purpose was high-risk, openly challenged police enforcement and disrupted public order.
The judge said that, apart from two defendants who had no equipment, all the others had equipment or clothing. However, the defendants were given discretionary sentence reductions after the court considered that they were leading positive lives and were highly unlikely to reoffend. One defendant’s son had leukaemia, while another’s mother had cancer. Fourteen people were sentenced to between nine and 14 months in prison, while one defendant who was under 18 at the time of the incident was sent to a training centre. As the defendants entered the cells, people in the public gallery waved and made heart-shaped hand gestures; the defendants smiled and nodded in response, while some relatives and friends cried after the hearing.
2019 年 11 月 18 日，警方圍堵理工大學內示威者，巿民在尖沙咀科學館一帶聲援，多人被控非法集結。其中涉及 20 人的案件，一人開審前認罪，餘下 19 人不認罪受審後罪成，4 人周五接受判刑，餘下 15 人周六（9 日）在西九龍裁判法院（暫代區域法院）判刑。
暫委法官嚴舜儀指，本案預先計劃、有備而來，否則不可能在短時間內聚集逾 100 人；又指示威者企圖突擊理大或支援被困理大的人，以此為目的的非法集結屬高風險，公然挑戰警方執法，破壞社會安寧。
法官又指，除兩被告沒有裝備，其餘均有裝備或衣物，但考慮各被告積極生活、重犯機會極微，另有被告兒子患白血病、母親患癌，均獲酌情減刑。其中 14 人被判囚 9 至 14 個月，一名案發時不足 18 歲的被告則判入勞教中心。被告步入囚室時，有旁聽人士揮手、舉心型手勢，被告微笑點頭回應，有親友出庭後哭泣。
8 Dec 2023獨媒#8781
警員稱被反警人士斬傷 入稟向警務處索償4百萬 其中150萬為私家精神科治療費
Late on 30 August 2019, an off-duty police officer was slashed with knives by three people at a bus stop outside the Goodrich Garden shopping centre opposite Kwai Chung Police Station. He was admitted to the intensive care unit for a period. A year later, police offered a HK$600,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspects. Nearly three years later, the officer filed a claim last year in the High Court against the Commissioner of Police, alleging negligence and breach of statutory duty, which resulted in him being assaulted by people opposed to the police during the anti-extradition bill protests. The case came before the High Court today (8th) for a checklist review hearing. It was disclosed in court that the officer’s claim amounted to HK$4.09 million, including HK$1.5 million in fees for consultations with private psychiatrists. Master Angela Sin Yee Kot questioned that the doctor’s report did not mention that the officer needed to switch to consultations with private doctors. She said that if this expense was not included as one of the heads of claim, the total claim would fall to HK$2.46 million, which would be within the jurisdiction of the District Court. The Master also said that it was common knowledge that patients had to wait for months or even years for treatment at public hospitals. The Master adjourned the case to 14 March next year for further directions from the plaintiff.
2019年8月30日深夜，一名休班警員於葵涌警署對開的好爵中心巴士站，被3人用刀斬傷，一度留醫深切治療部。警方一年後懸紅60萬通緝疑犯。事隔近3年，該警員去年入稟高等法院向警務處處長索償，指其涉疏忽及違反法定責任，導致他被反修例事件中反對警察人士襲擊。案件今（8日）在高院進行核對列表審核聆訊。庭上透露警員的索償金額為409萬，其中150萬為他向私家精神科醫生求診的費用。聆案官葛倩兒質疑，報告中醫生沒有提及警員需要轉為向私家醫生求診，她認為若然這項費用不被列作索償項目之一，整體索償額將會下降至246萬，並是區域法院可以處理的範圍。聆案官又指，公眾都知道公立醫院需輪候數月以至年計。聆案官將案押後至明年3月14日再訊，以待原告方索取指示。
7 Dec 2023法庭線#8778
載名畫《維納斯的誕生》書籍禁入收押所 鄒家成獲批司法覆核許可
Owen Chow, one of the defendants in the case involving 47 people charged over the pro-democracy primary election, disclosed on Facebook earlier that the Correctional Services Department had barred him from receiving a book containing the famous painting The Birth of Venus on the grounds that its content involved “nudity”. Chow applied for judicial review of the matter on Monday. Three days later, on the 7th, High Court judge Ko Ho-man granted leave and directed the parties to discuss a hearing date, tentatively scheduled for between March and May 2024.
47 名民主派初選案中被告鄒家成，早前在 Facebook 透露，他被懲教署以內容涉「裸露」為由，禁止收取一本載有名畫《維納斯的誕生》的書籍。鄒本周一就事件提出司法覆核，高院法官高浩文事隔 3 日（7 日）批出許可，並指示與訟雙方商議聆訊日子，日期範圍暫訂在 2024 年 3 月至 5 月之間。
7 Dec 2023法庭線#8779
工廈後樓梯物品遭清走 古思堯入稟指消防處行政失當 追討5萬9千元
Veteran social activist Koo Sze-yiu filed a claim with the Small Claims Tribunal, alleging that Fire Services Department personnel cleared items he had placed on the rear staircase of an industrial building while he was in hospital. The items included his tools for earning a living and $9,000 in cash inside a toolbox. He is seeking $59,000 from the Fire Services Department. The case received a brief mention at the West Kowloon Courts on Thursday (the 7th) and was adjourned until 24 April 2024 for a further hearing.
Koo Sze-yiu was separately accused of placing miscellaneous items on the rear staircase of an industrial building in Lai Chi Kok. He was charged with two offences: failing to comply with the requirements of a “Notice to Remove Fire Hazard” issued by the Fire Services Department, and obstructing an escape route. He denied the charges, and the case is scheduled for trial on 18 December.
社運老將古思堯入稟小額錢債審裁處，指消防處人員在他住院期間清理他放置於工廈後樓梯的物品，包括其謀生工具及工具箱內的九千元現金，遂向消防處追討 5 萬 9 千元，案件周四（7 日）在西九龍法院作簡短提訊，押後至 2024 年 4 月 24 日再訊。
古思堯另被指在荔枝角工廈後樓梯擺放雜物，遭票控沒遵從消防處發出「消除火警危險通知書」的規定、阻塞逃生途徑兩罪，他否認控罪，該案排期 12 月 18 日開審。
6 Dec 2023法庭線#8771
11.18油麻地｜6人暴動罪成判囚43至51月 官：受政治黑手唆擺 終獨自面對沉痛後果
In November 2019, police cordoned off the Polytechnic University campus, prompting members of the public to launch a “besiege Wei to rescue Zhao” operation. A total of 213 people were accused of taking part in rioting in Yau Ma Tei, and the cases were heard in multiple trials. Six defendants in this case pleaded not guilty and stood trial. They were convicted earlier following the trial, and Judge Chan Kwong-chi sentenced them to between 43 and 51 months’ imprisonment at the District Court on Wednesday (the 6th).
2019 年 11 月，警方圍封理大校園，市民遂發起「圍魏救趙」行動，213 人被指於油麻地參與暴動，分成多案審理。本案有 6 人不認罪受審，經審訊後早前被裁罪成，法官陳廣池周三（6 日）於區域法院，判 6 人監禁 43 至 51 個月。
法官指，是次暴動參與者一度逾千人，警方施放多枚催淚彈，暴動者亦投擲汽油彈，現場火光熊熊，磚頭雜物處處，猶如戰場。而是次暴動可悲及可怕之處在於，一群群擁有善良品格及滿腔熱誠的年輕人，被「政治黑手」推向前線。而他們可能自我感覺良好，進行暴力行為，盡情破壞，但最後卻要獨自面對沉痛的法律後果。
法官又指，從辯方求情可見，部分被告似乎不知「錯在哪裡」，有否知道自己是「政治博弈下的棋子」，但考慮他們同意大部分案情、以及年紀等因素，酌情減刑。
6 Dec 2023獨媒#8775
時任裁判官鄭紀航審反修例案 被投訴立場偏頗 法官小組裁定不成立
Kei Hong Cheang, then a magistrate of the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts and now a deputy district judge, convicted a 17-year-old student in 2020 of two offences, including possession of an instrument fit for unlawful purposes, in an anti-extradition bill protest case, and sentenced him to a detention centre. One of the convictions was quashed on appeal. The public subsequently complained that the judge was biased, had convicted the student without sufficient evidence, and had imposed an unreasonable sentence. After an investigation, a panel of judges tasked with handling the matter found the complaints unsubstantiated, citing, among other reasons, a lack of factual basis. The panel stressed that whether a conviction and sentence were appropriate did not fall within the scope of complaints about the judicial conduct of judicial officers. It said some people might disagree with a judicial decision because of their positions or political views, but that did not mean the decision or the judicial officer was biased. It also said that, in accordance with the fundamental principle of judicial independence, the panel should not and would not interfere with judicial decisions.
時任東區裁判法院裁判官、現為區域法院暫委法官的鄭紀航，於2020年審理一宗反修例示威案時，裁定一名17歲學生「管有適合作非法用途的工具」等兩罪成，並判他入勞教中心，他上訴後其中一罪獲撤銷。事後有公眾投訴鄭官立場偏頗、在證據不足下定罪，以及判刑不合理。專責法官小組調查後裁定投訴不成立，理由包括投訴欠缺事實基礎。小組強調，定罪及刑罰是否恰當，並不屬於投訴司法人員司法行為的範疇。部分人可能會基於立場或政見，而不認同司法決定，但不等同有關司法決定或司法人員偏頗；而且基於司法獨立的基本原則，小組不適宜亦不會干預司法決定。
6 Dec 2023法庭線#8776
支聯會拒交資料案｜鄒幸彤等3人上訴 雙方爭議控方須否證外國代理人
The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which has been struck off the Companies Register, and its former vice-chair Chow Hang-tung and two former standing committee members Tang Ngok Kwan and Hon Kwong Tsui are appealing against their convictions and sentences for failing to comply with a Notice to Furnish Information. The case was heard in the High Court on Wednesday (the 6th). Chow, who has been remanded for a considerable period, appeared visibly thinner and was at one point called “Chow Sau-na” by a member of the public in the gallery.
The appellants argued that although the alliance and the three defendants were suspected of being “foreign agents”, the threshold for the police issuing the notice was confirmation that they “are” agents, rather than merely that they were “suspected of being” agents. They said the prosecution had never explained whose “foreign agents” they were. They also argued that the trial court’s allowing a National Security Department superintendent giving evidence to choose not to answer related questions meant they had not received a fair trial.
The Department of Justice argued that there was no need to prove whose “foreign agents” the defendants were, as this was not an element of the offence. It said the legislative purpose of the provision was to empower the police, where they reasonably suspected someone of being a “foreign agent”, to use a convenient mechanism to obtain information in order to investigate swiftly and prevent acts endangering national security.
已被剔除公司註冊的支聯會，前副主席鄒幸彤與兩名前常委鄧岳君、徐漢光，就違反「遞交資料通知書」的定罪及刑期上訴，案件周三（6 日）在高院審理。還押多時的鄒幸彤明顯消瘦，一度被旁聽人士喚她「鄒瘦娜」。
上訴方陳詞指，支聯會及 3 被告被懷疑是「外國代理人」，但警方發出「通知書」須達確認「是」代理人的門檻，而非「懷疑是」。而控方在案中一直沒交代他們是誰的「外國代理人」，加上原審容許國安處警司證人，選擇不答相關問題，致上訴方未獲公平審訊。
律政司一方則認為，毋須證明被告是誰的「外國代理人」，因不屬控罪元素，又指條文的立法目的是賦權警方若合理懷疑某人為「外國代理人」，有便捷機制索取資料，以迅速調查、防範危及國家安全行為。
Translations are supplied by the source workbook. Consult the original reporting for context.
