Drawing lines on what makes a rally organizer

Media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and six other democratic figures were invited to join an assembly but did not arrange the event and so should not be treated as organizers, the court of appeal heard yesterday.

That was said as a three-day hearing began before court of appeal vice president Andrew Macrae and justices Maggie Poon Man-kay and Anthea Pang Po-kam for the seven convicted of organizing and participating in an illegal assembly at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay on August 18, 2019.

The seven are Lai, 74, Democratic Party founding chairman Martin Lee Chu-ming, 84, and former legislators Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee, 74, Leung Kwok-hung, 66, Cyd Ho Sau-lan, 68, Albert Ho Chun-yan, 70, and Lee Cheuk-yan,65.

Lai and Lee Cheuk-yan were last April imprisoned for 12 months and Leung to 18 months, while Cyd Ho has already served an eight-month term.

Ng and Albert Ho were each handed 12-month sentences, while Martin Lee received a sentence of 11 months suspended for 24 months.

All appealed against convictions, while Lai, Leung, Lee Cheuk-yan and Cyd Ho also appealed against sentences.

Senior counsel Audrey Eu Yuet-mee, for Lai, said he had not taken part in any event announcing the assembly, called for people to join it or set a rally route.

Eu said Lai only showed up to disperse crowds. And the court should not believe the appellants participated in or organized the rally just because they are from the pro-democracy camp.

She cited as an example a government official being invited to a graduation ceremony, which did not mean the official organized the ceremony.

Eu also said it was important to disperse 300,000 protesters in the rally safely.

She said the charges did not involve conspiracy nor an agreement. The appellants are democrats, but she disagreed with trial judge Amanda Woodcock saying the defendants had "a tie with" the pro-democracy camp.

Eu said she has "a tie with" senior counsel Benjamin Yu Yuk-hoi who represents the appeal respondent, the Department of Justice, but it did not mean she has the same view as her brother.

Eu said if people are considered to have ties with others as they have the same stance then hundreds of thousands of Hongkongers who voted for democrats should be considered to have ties with each other.

Senior counsel Ambrose Ho Pui-him, who represents Ng, said organizing involves advance preparation.

He said if defendant Ng became the leader of the procession without advance arrangement it did not mean she organized the rally.

He also said there was no evidence Ng took part in setting the route of the rally.

But barrister Priscilia Lam Tsz-ying, for the department, said organizing does not only involve planning a rally route.

She said if the defendants did not take the lead that day the crowd would have dispersed and people would have left at different MTR stations. So the defendants were organizers.

The hearing continues today.