Court rules in favor of Jimmy Lai and six ex-lawmakers

Wallis Wang

The Court of Appeal yesterday rejected a government bid to overturn the acquittal of media mogul Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and six other democracy activists for organizing an illegal assembly in Victoria Park in August 2019, which resulted in having their sentences shortened by three to six months.

But the court allowed the seven to take the case to the Court of Final Appeal to challenge their conviction for taking part in an illegal assembly.

Lai, 76, and six former lawmakers - Martin Lee Chu-ming, 85, Albert Ho Chun-yan, 72, Lee Cheuk-yan, 66, Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee, 75, Cyd Ho Sau-lan, 69, and "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung, 67 - were originally convicted of organizing and taking part in the rally and were imprisoned for eight to 18 months in 2021.

The seven appealed against their convictions and were acquitted of the organizing charge by the Court of Appeal in August this year. But the conviction of taking part in the unauthorized rally stood.

Both the activists and the Department of Justice appealed against the court's decision and applied to take the case to the SAR's top court.

In a written judgment issued yesterday, Court of Appeal judges Andrew Macrae, Maggie Poon Man-kay and Anthea Pang Po-kam rejected the DoJ's application, saying "factual issues" it raised, including the notion of "organizing," had been resolved in previous hearings.

"The word 'organize' has no specialized, technical or legal meaning but generally connotes some responsibility for, or active participation in, arranging, planning or managing, an action or event," the judges said.

"We concluded that none of the [activists] could be shown to have been the organizers of the procession as a matter of form or substance, but we also made clear we were not saying the leader of a procession could never be one of its organizers. Much would depend on the particular facts and on evidence of individual cases."

But the judges allowed the seven activists to take the case to the Court of Final Appeal, involving the "operational proportionality" of the Public Order Ordinance section 17A(3) banning unauthorized assembly and delayed enforcement.

Such arguments are of "great and general importance," the judges said.

But they rejected the activists' argument the ordinance is unconstitutional and intervening in peaceful assembly.

Leung, Lai and Lee Cheuk-yan have completed their prison terms in the case, but they are still remanded in custody due to national security charges.