Tsang Chi-kin, who was shot by cops, 'in exile' group says

A student protester who was shot by police during last year's protests in Tsuen Wan's Hau Tei Square   and later charged with rioting and assaulting officers is in exile in an undisclosed location, an advocacy group said on Tuesday.

Tsang Chi-kin, 19, was shot with a live round and wounded on October 1, 2019 during protests on National Day, the first of two people who police shot during months of protests, Reuters reports. 

Tsang did not show up for a court hearing earlier today and a British-based, anti-China advocacy group, Friends of Hong Kong, said he and some fellow protesters had left the city.

He is a student from Tsuen Wan Public Ho Chuen Yiu Memorial College.

"Kin ... is now formally declaring that they are in exile," the group said in a statement. It did not say how he had left or where he was.

At his previous court appearance in October, Tsang said he intended to plead guilty to the charges against him.

But he also feared being investigated for breaking a new national security law that punishes colluding with foreign forces.

That concern stemmed from a failed bid to seek asylum at the U.S. consulate together with some of his friends in October this year, the group said.

The U.S. consulate said at the time, without naming Tsang or giving any details, U.S. policy worldwide was that asylum could only be requested upon arrival on American soil.-Reuters/The Standard