Cameraman wins appeal in unlawful assembly case

A 36-year-old cameraman on Thursday won the appeal against his conviction of participating in an unlawful assembly in Tai Po, where crowds gathered to mourn student Alex Chow Tsz-lok who passed away during the social unrest. 

Choy Kin-yue was sentenced to three-month imprisonment by Fanling Magistrates' Courts last August for participating in an unlawful assembly in Zone B and C of Tai Po Mega Mall on March 8, 2020. 

Former Tai Po district councilors Dalu Lin Kok-cheung, Herman Yiu Kwan-ho and Man Nim-chi also faced the same charge. Yiu and Man were jailed for three months and Lin was acquitted of the charge. 

Choy filed an appeal against his conviction to the High Court, which ruled on Thursday that Choy was not guilty of the charge.  

When reading his judgment, High Court judge Albert Wong Sung-hau said Choy filmed the unlawful assembly continuously without displaying any press card. Yet, he did not speak or act inappropriately. 

Wong also pointed out that Choy, like three other defendants in the case, kept a distance when tailing the plain-clothes officers from behind and didn't stop them from proceeding. There was no evidence to show that Choy communicated with the other defendants in any form as well. 

Wong added Choy didn't react to any negative responses made towards the cops by the crowds at the scene. 

The judge concluded that although Choy placed himself in a very suspicious scenario where it was possible that he wanted to take part in the unlawful assembly, the evidence submitted by the prosecution was insufficient and didn't reach the standard of requirement for criminal cases.