Former Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting has been acquitted of assault-related charges stemming from a chaotic Legislative Council (LegCo) meeting in 2019.

The incident took place on May 11, 2019, during heated clashes in the LegCo chamber over the controversial extradition bill.

Lam, 48, had been accused of assaulting, obstructing, or molesting lawmakers Ben Chan Han-pan and Holden Chow Ho-ding within the precincts of the chamber.

Delivering the verdict at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Thursday (Nov 6), Magistrate Andy Cheng Lim-chi ruled that Lam was merely present during the incident and that the prosecution had failed to prove he took part in any collective assault against Chan.

Given the chaotic nature of the scene, Cheng said Chan would not have been aware of Lam’s intentions or remarks at the time. The court also questioned the reliability of Holden Chow’s testimony, noting that Chow was positioned too far away to clearly observe what had happened.

Cheng further pointed out that, given the differing political stances of Chan and Chow compared to Lam, their interpretations might have been too subjective to classify Lam’s actions as harassment or an attempt to seize the microphone.

Retired lawmaker Abraham Shek Lai-him, who chaired the meeting that day, testified that Lam had only greeted him and that any physical contact was not forceful. He also told the court earlier that Lam appeared concerned about his condition rather than attempting to grab the microphone.

While Lam was acquitted, the court rejected his application for recovering the legal costs, ruling that his hand movements had reasonably aroused suspicion.

Lam was among seven lawmakers charged over the incident. Fellow legislators Kwok Ka-ki and Gary Fan Kwok-wai were also cleared of all charges, while Au Nok-hin was bound over.

Meanwhile, Leung Yiu-chung, Eddie Chu Hoi-dick, and Raymond Chan Chi-chuen, who pleaded guilty, were sentenced to jail terms ranging from 14 to 32 days.