20 Nov 2024法庭線#4258
11.18理大｜台「公視」特約記者非法集結罪成囚15月申定罪上訴許可 官押後宣判
On Nov. 18, 2019, members of the public went to Tsim Sha Tsui to support protesters inside PolyU. Ten people, including Democratic Party chairman Lo Kin-hei, were charged with unlawful assembly and other offences. All except Lo were convicted. A Hong Kong contract reporter for Taiwan Public Television’s programme “Art Is...” was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment and has since completed the sentence.
The reporter applied to the High Court on Wednesday (20th) for leave to appeal the conviction. Through counsel, the reporter argued that the laser pointer and multitool carried were not inherently offensive, and that the multitool was used to adjust camera screws. The judge questioned why the multitool was needed to adjust only one camera screw, noting that it was subsequently shown that the screw could be adjusted by hand alone, and said the explanation was far-fetched. The judge reserved the decision.
2019 年 11 月 18 日，市民發起到尖沙咀支援理大內示威者，10 人包括民主黨主席羅健熙，被控非法集結等罪。 除羅健熙外，其餘 9 人被裁定罪名成立。其中台灣公共電視《藝術很有事》香港特約記者被判囚 15 個月，早前已服畢刑期。
該名記者周三（20 日）向高等法院定罪上訴許可，並透過代表大律師指，所攜的鐳射筆及萬用鉗，在本質上不具攻擊性，後者是用作調校相機螺絲。惟法官質疑，萬用鉗只可用作調校相機其中一顆螺絲，其後證明單用手便可調校，說法牽強。法官將押後頒布決定。
26 Mar 2024法庭線#3251
《香港01》母企創辦人于品海 被建銀國際旗下公司追債 高院頒令破產
Yu Pun-hai, founder of South Sea Holdings, the parent company of media outlet Hong Kong 01, was petitioned for bankruptcy by CCB International Overseas Limited in October 2023. Acting High Court Judge Tong Si-pui on Tuesday (26th), after hearing submissions from both sides, rejected an application by Yu’s side to adjourn the case, and ordered him to be adjudged bankrupt and to pay the costs. Written reasons will be issued later.
The petitioner was CCB International Overseas Limited, represented by Senior Counsel Shek Wing-tai. The respondent was Yu Pun-hai, who did not appear in court and was represented by barrister Chan Ngou-him. According to information from listed companies on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, CCB International Overseas Limited is wholly and beneficially owned by CCB International (Holdings) Limited, while CCB International is a wholly owned subsidiary of China Construction Bank.
Hong Kong 01 published a statement on its website in the afternoon saying that Yu did not hold any position in the company. The case only concerned Yu’s personal financial arrangements, and “Hong Kong 01 will not be affected and the company will continue to operate as usual.”
媒體《香港01》母公司「南海控股」創辦人于品海，2023 年 10 月被建銀國際海外有限公司入稟呈請破產，高院暫委法官唐思佩周二（26 日）聽畢雙方陳詞，拒絕于品海一方申請押後，頒令他破產及支付訟費，稍後頒下書面判詞。
呈請方為建銀國際海外有限公司，由資深大律師石永泰代表；答辯人為于品海，他沒出庭，由大律師陳翱謙代表。根據港交所上市公司資料，建銀國際海外有限公司由建銀國際（控股）有限公司全資及實益擁有；而建銀國際為建設銀行的全資子公司。
《香港01》下午在網頁發稿，指于品海未有於公司擔任任何職務。案件只牽涉于的個人財務安排，「《香港01》不受影響，公司將繼續如常運作」。
19 Dec 2023光傳媒#2693
星島獨家：黎智英申海外證人視像作供被拒 法庭駁：沒有收到申請
Sing Tao Daily exclusively reported last Friday that Jimmy Lai, founder of Next Digital, had applied to give evidence by video link from overseas, but that the application had been rejected by the court. Oriental Daily News and ET Net subsequently reported the matter, while Ta Kung Wen Wei Media cited the report on Weibo and criticised Lai for attempting to internationalise the national security case. However, High Court judge Esther Toh clarified yesterday that she had not received the relevant application. As of 3pm today, Sing Tao had amended its original report, while the Weibo posts by Oriental Daily News, ET Net and Ta Kung Wen Wei Media had not been corrected.
《星島日報》上周五獨家報道，指《壹傳媒》創辦人黎智英申請海外證人視像作供，被法庭拒絕。隨後《東方日報》、《經濟通》亦有報道，《大公文匯網》就在微博引述該報道，批評黎智英試圖將國安案件國際化。不過，高等法院法官杜麗冰昨澄清，沒有收到相關申請。截至今日下午3時，《星島》已修改原來報道內容，《東方》、《經濟通》和《大公文匯網》的微博仍未改正。
25 Sept 2023法庭線#8410
陳朗昇旺角採訪阻差辦公罪成 判囚5天准保釋候上訴 官指「肆無忌憚」發問
Chan Long-sing, multimedia production director at online media outlet Channel C and chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, was arrested in September 2022 while covering an owners’ meeting of Long Ping Estate in Yuen Long at the MacPherson Stadium in Mong Kok after allegedly refusing to show his identity card to police officers. He was convicted of obstructing a police officer in the execution of duty at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Monday (25th).
Magistrate LEUNG Ka-kie rejected Chan’s testimony, saying it was not his genuine belief at the time. Leung also accepted that police had reasonable grounds to stop and search Chan, and said the officer had identified himself at the time of the incident, satisfying the purpose of Chan’s questions. Chan nevertheless continued asking questions, which the magistrate described as “reckless and unreasonable”.
Leung adopted seven days’ imprisonment as the starting point for sentencing and, taking into account Chan’s background and contributions in the media sector, exercised discretion to reduce the sentence by two days. The defence’s application for bail pending appeal was approved. Chan must not leave Hong Kong, must surrender all travel documents and must report to a police station twice a week. Outside court, Chan said the public could see the court’s view and that “justice lies in the hearts of the people”. He expected to be unable to attend overseas conferences, but said this would not affect his work as HKJA chairperson.
The Hong Kong Journalists Association said it was extremely disappointed with the ruling, saying that a journalist who was arrested while conducting an interview and exercising a basic right, and who had done his best to cooperate with the police operation, had subsequently been convicted by the court. It said this “sends a strong signal to the outside world that Hong Kong is using the law as a pretext to target journalists and obstruct news reporting”, and considered it showed that press freedom had “not improved and had even deteriorated”. The Hong Kong Federation of Journalists said in a statement that the ruling demonstrated legal justice and “once again conveyed an important message to society: there is no ‘press freedom’ that is above the law”.
網媒《Channel C》多媒體製作主任、記協主席陳朗昇，2022 年 9 月前往旺角麥花臣場館採訪元朗朗屏邨業主大會時，被指拒向警員出示身份證被捕。他周一（25 日）在西九龍裁判法院被裁定「阻差辦公」罪罪名成立。
裁判官梁嘉琪拒絕接納陳的證供，指並非他當時的真實信念，梁亦接納警員有合理理由截查陳，又指案發時警員已道出身份，達到陳發問目的，惟陳仍繼續詢問，指他「肆無忌憚、不合情理地發問」。
梁以 7 天監禁為量刑起點，考慮陳於傳媒界的背景和貢獻，酌情扣減 2 天。辯方申保釋候上訴獲批准，期間不得離港，並須交出所有旅遊證件，每周 2 天到警署報到。陳在法院外指，公眾可看到法庭的看法，認為「公道自在人心」，預計未能出席海外會議，惟不影響記協主席工作。
記協指對裁決極度遺憾，又指警方拘捕正進行採訪工作、行使基本權利，並盡力配合警方行動的記者，再由法庭定罪，「向外界釋出香港以法律為名，針對新聞工作者，阻撓新聞採訪的強烈訊號。」認為顯示新聞自由「並無改善甚至惡化」。新聞聯則發聲明指，判決彰顯法律公義，「再次向社會傳遞出一個重要信息﹕沒有不守法的『新聞自由』」。
7 Sept 2023法庭線#8337
《頭條新聞》被指辱警 通訊局、工會均提上訴 上訴庭9個月內頒決定
In 2020, the Communications Authority ruled that some episodes of RTHK’s ‘Headliner’ denigrated and insulted the police, and issued RTHK a warning. The programme was subsequently taken off the air. The Hong Kong Journalists Association and an RTHK staff union sought judicial review of the decision and partially won their case in the High Court in 2021. The Communications Authority, the RTHK staff union and the Journalists Association subsequently all appealed, and the Court of Appeal heard the case on Wednesday (the 6th).
The Communications Authority argued that the lower court had erred in finding that it was responsible for investigating the accuracy of programme content when handling complaints. It said that ‘Headliner’ had linked doctors not having enough masks with the statement that ‘the police have plenty left over’, which amounted to denigrating and insulting police officers and caused the public to lose trust in the police force.
The union and the Journalists Association argued that the programme’s statement that foot patrols had been cancelled and officers no longer needed to ‘walk the beat’ was exaggerated, but had a factual basis in news reports and targeted the incident concerned rather than police officers as a group. After hearing submissions, the court reserved judgment to be delivered within nine months.
通訊事務管理局 2020 年裁定港台《頭條新聞》有集數污衊、侮辱警方，並向港台發出警告，節目隨後停播。記協與港台工會提司法覆核挑戰決定，2021 年獲高院裁定部分勝訴。通訊局、港台工會與記協其後均提上訴，上訴庭周三（6 日）審理。
通訊局一方認為，原審錯誤裁定局方在處理投訴時，有責任調查節目內容的真確性，而《頭條新聞》將醫生不夠口罩，與「衙差大把有得剩」連繫上，屬污衊及侮辱警員，引致市民不信任警隊。
工會、記協一方則指，節目中「取消徒步巡邏，唔使行咇」說法誇張，但有新聞報道的事實基礎，而且是針對有關事件，非警員群體。法庭聽取陳詞後，押後 9 個月內頒布判詞
21 Jul 2023法庭線#8055
陳朗昇否認採訪時阻差辦公 押後9.25裁決
Ronson Chan, multimedia production director of online media outlet Channel C and chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, was arrested last September while covering a homeowners’ meeting of Long Ping Estate in Yuen Long at MacPherson Stadium in Mong Kok. He was accused of refusing to show his identity card to police. Police charged him with one count of obstructing a police officer in the execution of his duty, with an alternative charge of obstructing a public officer. Chan denied both charges. The case concluded with closing submissions at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Friday (the 21st). In response to the defence’s submission that Chan’s contact with the plain-clothes police officer who stopped him lasted no more than 30 seconds, the prosecution said the court should consider the evidence as a whole and whether the defendant’s conduct constituted obstruction of the officer. The prosecution also said the law does not specify that police officers must repeatedly ask a defendant to produce an identity card, and that the court should consider the defendant’s conduct as a whole from the time the officer stopped Chan until his arrest.
網媒《Channel C》多媒體製作主任、記協主席陳朗昇，去年 9 月在旺角麥花臣場館採訪元朗朗屏邨業主大會期間，被指拒向警員出示身份證被捕。他被警方落案起訴一項「阻差辦公」罪及交替的「阻礙公職人員」罪，陳否認兩項控罪，案件周五（21 日）在西九龍裁判法院作結案陳詞。
針對辯方指陳朗昇與截查的便衣警員之間，接觸不多於 30 秒，控方認為，法庭應考慮整體證據，以及被告的行為是否構成阻撓警員。控方又指，法例沒列明警員需要不斷要求被告出示身份證，法庭應考慮自截查警員接觸陳，直至陳被捕之間的整體行為。
5 Jun 2023法庭線#6551
蔡玉玲查車牌案上訴終極勝訴 判詞：沒理由將真誠新聞調查排除在外
Choy Yuk Ling, Bao, a former producer-director of RTHK’s programme “Hong Kong Connection”, was accused of falsely stating the purpose of a vehicle registration mark search with the Transport Department while following up on the Yuen Long 721 attack. In 2021, Choy Yuk Ling, Bao was convicted of two counts of making false statements and fined HK$6,000. After Choi’s appeal against the convictions was rejected by the High Court, Choi pursued a final appeal. On Monday (the 5th), five Court of Final Appeal judges unanimously allowed the appeal and quashed the convictions and fine.
The judges held that the Commissioner for Transport was entitled to require Choy Yuk Ling, Bao to explain the reasons for the vehicle registration mark search, but there was no reason for the department to exclude bona fide journalistic investigation from the option of “other matters relating to traffic and transport”. Therefore, Choi’s statements on the certificate were not false. The court also held that the term “other matters relating to traffic and transport” was neither clear nor unambiguous. Taking into account the number of times certificates had been issued to the media in the past, Choi, as a journalist, “was very likely honestly mistaken” in believing that her journalistic work was covered. The lower court’s inference that Choi had made false statements therefore caused her substantial and serious injustice.
港台《鏗鏘集》前編導蔡玉玲，被指為跟進元朗 721 襲擊事件，向運輸署虛報車牌查冊用途，2021 年被裁定兩項作出虛假陳述罪成，罰款 6,000 元。蔡提定罪上訴被高院駁回後，再申終極上訴，終院 5 名法官周一（5 日）一致裁定蔡上訴得直，撤銷定罪及罰款。
法官認為，運輸署署長有權要求蔡玉玲交代車牌查冊的理由，但署方沒有理由將真誠的新聞調查，排除在 「其他有關交通及運輸的事宜」這選項以外。因此，蔡在證明書的陳述不屬虛假。法庭又認為，「其他有關交通及運輸的事宜」一詞既不清晰也不明確，考慮到過去媒體獲發證明書的次數，蔡作為記者「很可能誠實地錯誤相信」，其新聞工作用途包含在內，故下級法院推斷蔡作出虛假陳述，對她造成實質及嚴重不公。
1 Jun 2023明報#6532
六四報道巨幅表揚信 掛牆港台34年被除下
The Department of Justice argued that the lower court had failed to consider the social circumstances at the time of the incident, and that the young man must have intended to injure someone. It asked for the case to be remitted to the lower court for reconsideration. The defence, however, said he might have used an object to “ward off” the attack, and that an intention to cause injury was not the only reasonable inference. After hearing submissions from both sides, Judge Cheung Wai-ling said she considered that the trial magistrate had made an error and was inclined to remit the case for reconsideration. She will hand down her judgment on a date to be fixed.
律政司一方認為，原審沒有考慮案發時社會環境，認為青年當時必然有傷人意圖，希望可發還案件予原審重新考慮。但答辯方指，他可能用物品「擋」開攻擊，意圖傷人並非唯一合理推論。法官張慧玲聽畢雙方陳詞，表明認為原審裁判官有犯錯，傾向發還予原審重新考慮，將擇日頒下判詞。
6 May 2023法庭線#6412
《法庭線》就《立場》被指煽動案中鍾沛權36日作供作出整合
The trial of Stand News, charged with conspiracy to publish seditious publications, is the first prosecution of a media organisation for sedition since 1997. The trial began in October 2022 and has lasted 52 days so far. Former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen completed 36 days of testimony in early April. The other defendant, former acting editor-in-chief Lam Siu-tung, will not testify or call witnesses. The case has been adjourned until 19 June for closing submissions.
The issues covered in Chung’s testimony were wide-ranging. In addition to the articles in the case, they included the special publication “Lizhi”, journalistic principles, newsroom operations, his personal political stance, and his thoughts and experiences as he faced Stand News’ final struggles. During cross-examination and re-examination, the prosecution and defence each submitted more than 200 new documents. Defence counsel Audrey Eu said in court at one point that although the public believed the case involved more than 100 articles, she clarified that there were only 17 articles in the case.
How did the prosecution argue that the articles were seditious? Why did both sides submit so many new articles? And what did news mean to Chung Pui-kuen? The Witness has compiled the key points from Chung’s testimony over the course of the trial to help readers follow its progress.
《立場新聞》被控「串謀發布煽動刊物罪」，為 1997 年後首宗傳媒被控煽動案的審訊，2022 年 10 月開審至今歷 52 日審訊，前總編輯鍾沛權在 4 月初完成 36 日作供。另一被告、前署任總編輯林紹桐不作供亦不傳召證人，案件押至 6 月 19 日結案陳詞。
鍾沛權作供所牽涉的議題眾多，除了涉案文章，還有特刊《立誌》、新聞原則、編輯室運作、個人政治立場，以及他面對《立場》最後掙扎的心路歷程。控辯雙方在盤問、覆問期間，分別呈遞逾 200 份新文件，辯方余若薇一度在庭上表示，外界以為本案涉及百篇文章，她澄清涉案文章只有 17 篇。
究竟控方如何指控文章煽動？控辯雙方為何呈遞多篇新文章？在鍾沛權眼中，新聞又是怎樣一回事？《法庭線》整理鍾沛權連日供詞重點，讓讀者更易掌握審訊進展。
9 Feb 2023法庭線#6032
7.6屯門｜涉逼刪示威者照片 網媒記者非法集結罪成囚13月 官稱以言語壯大聲勢
After the July 2019 “Liberate Tuen Mun Park” march, then-legislator Lam Cheuk-ting and three others were accused of demanding that someone delete photographs of protesters from the “7.1 siege of Police Headquarters”. They were acquitted of intending to pervert the course of justice and accessing a computer with dishonest intent. The online media reporter was convicted of unlawful assembly and sentenced to 13 months’ imprisonment at the District Court on Thursday (9th). Judge Douglas Yau Tak-hong accepted that the incident had not been premeditated. However, he noted that the victim had been surrounded, pressured, insulted and assaulted in broad daylight, only a short distance from the wall of a police station. Although the defendant did not appear to have personally assaulted the victim and had even intervened to protect him, the judge said that remarks such as, “Are those photos worth more than your life?” served to embolden the crowd and reinforce their confidence in intimidating the victim. This was therefore treated as an aggravating factor.
2019 年 7 月「光復屯門公園」遊行後，時任立法會議員林卓廷等 4 人，被指要求他人刪去 「7.1 包圍警總」示威者照片，被裁定意圖妨礙司法公正、不誠實意圖取用電腦罪不成立；網媒記者則非法集結罪成，周四（9 日）在區域法院被判監禁 13 個月。
法官游德康接納案件沒有預謀，但事主在光天化日、警署圍牆咫尺之外的地方被包圍、壓逼、侮辱及襲擊，即使被告看似沒有親手襲擊事主，甚至出手保護對方，惟他說出「啲相係咪值錢過你條命」等話是壯大聲勢，加強群眾威逼事主的信心，是加重罪責。
Translations are supplied by the source workbook. Consult the original reporting for context.
