Judge warns Albert Ho after setting him free

Veteran politician Albert Ho Chun-yan has been released on HK$700,000 bail after being detained for over a year for subversion charges under national security law.

The 70-year-old former Democratic Party leader and lawmaker left the High Court at 5.20pm yesterday and got onto a seven-seater immediately without responding to media questions. He was holding several plastic bags of his belongings.

Judge Johnny Chan Jong-herng of the Court of First Instance of the High Court, and a designated national security judge, granted Ho bail of HK$700,000 cash, with his daughter and sister-in-law each paying HK$200,000 sureties.

Ho applied for bail at the High Court after a West Kowloon magistrate rejected his application last month.

"Don't prove me wrong and Mr Cheung [assistant director of public prosecutions Ivan Cheung Cheuk-kan] right," Chan said.

Ho is required to report to Wan Chai police station three times a week and comply with a curfew order from midnight to 7am. He has to live in the claimed address and needs to inform police before changing his address.

He is also prohibited from making any comments which possibly endanger national security on any platforms - including social media and news outlets - or conduct any behavior which could violate the national security law. He cannot leave Hong Kong and has to surrender all his travel documents, including his British National (Overseas) passport.

Ho is banned from contacting any foreign official or legislator or any level of council member or staff serving these people.

After hearing his bail application was successful, people sitting in the public gallery cheered, while Ho put his palms together and nodded to them.

Former Democratic Party chairwoman Emily Lau Wai-hing, who worked with Ho in the Legislative Council for years, posted a photo of Ho on Facebook and Twitter in which Ho was holding a bouquet of flowers in the seven-seater. "Albert Ho has regained his liberty," she wrote.

Waiting for Ho outside the court, Lau said Ho's family would like him to get a thorough health check.

She heard that Ho, who had lung cancer a few years ago, has found a shadow in his lungs recently so he is worried about a recurrence.

Ho was scheduled to do a CT scan during his custody but it was postponed to next year due to the epidemic.

Lau also said there is "something" in Ho's liver and teeth so he wanted to see a doctor as soon as possible.

Lau said she visited Ho in Stanley Prison on August 3 and noticed Ho's skin had darkened. "He looked like not feeling very well," she said.

Lau said she was surprised to see Ho being bailed and hoped he can do a full health check as soon as possible. She said she was just worried about Ho's health and "I didn't say his cancer has recurred. Touch wood!"

Ho, who was a vice chairman of the defunct Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, was charged with inciting subversion along with two of the alliance's former leaders, ex-lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan, 65, and Chow Hang-tung, 37.

Ho's national security charge was laid during his 18-month prison term in May last year over an illegal gathering in October 2019.

sophie.hui@singtaonewscorp.com