Two Danish MPs can be prosecuted for helping former lawmaker Ted Hui flee, said Executive Councilor and lawmaker Regina Ip

Two Danish parliamentarians can be prosecuted for conspiracy to help former lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung flee if they enter Hong Kong, Executive Councilor and lawmaker Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee said. 

Speaking on a TV program yesterday, the former secretary for security said the conspiracy offense applies to people who are outside Hong Kong, a day after media reported that Hong Kong government wants to seek the extradition of the two Danish politicians, Uffe Elbæk and Katarina Ammitzbøll, in connection with Hui’s case. 

The two MPs were said to have organized the meetings on climate change for the 38-year-old former Democratic Party lawmaker to attend last month.

However, those meetings were later revealed to have been a cover allegedly concocted by the Danish politicians to help Hui, who faces nine charges over protest-related offences in Hong Kong, to secure court approval to leave the city while awaiting trial. Hui announced he would be in exile in Britain after the visit in Denmark last month.

Ip said the two politicians could have committed offences under the Criminal Procedure Ordinance as "they aided, abetted, counseled or procured the commission by another person of any offence".

Even if the conspiracy was conducted overseas, it is still illegal, Ip said.
 
Through the agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters between Hong Kong and Denmark,  she said Hong Kong can request Danish enforcement agencies to take statements and ask Copenhagen to assist in following up, such as questioning the two parliamentarians to obtain evidence.

Ip said the SAR government needs to collect more solid evidence as the SAR only know what those politicians said openly. 

Last Wednesday, in a written reply to Ip’s question, Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu said Hui is “an absconder who has openly jumped bail”.

“Wherever any person (including foreign politicians) is suspected of having committed the crime for organizing, planning or aiding the abscondence, the police will actively investigate and pursue their legal liabilities under the existing legal framework,” Lee said.