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Hong Kong courts
Hong KongLaw and Crime

Hong Kong court hears Occupy co-founders engaged in ‘conspiracy to inspire’, but not a criminal offence

  • Benny Tai, Chan Kin-man and Chu Yiu-ming are challenging their conviction on conspiracy and incitement charges stemming from their roles in the civil disobedience movement
  • Trio’s lawyer argues they could not have been aware of the extent of the obstruction the movement would ultimately cause

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The appeal against the 2019 conviction of the co-founders of the Occupy Central movement kicked off on Tuesday. Photo: EPA
Jasmine Siu
The three founders of 2014’s Occupy Central movement engaged in what was merely a “conspiracy to inspire”, not one to create a public nuisance – the actual charge they were convicted of five years later – their lawyers have argued on appeal.
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Opening the three-day appeal at the High Court on Tuesday, solicitor advocate Eric Cheung Tat-ming said this was the first case in Hong Kong in which the organisers of a peaceful demonstration had been charged with conspiracy and incitement, and severely sanctioned by lengthy prison terms.

Cheung argued that the trio’s conviction and sentence were “disproportionate”, given that they had undertaken an act of “self-sacrifice” in seeking to motivate the public to fight for greater democracy, and could not have contemplated the extent of the obstruction their movement would cause. Occupy ultimately dragged on for some 79 days and brought parts of the city to a standstill.

The lawyer also noted that the Hong Kong of 2014 was very different from today’s, and argued that the court should be careful in interpreting political rhetoric like that of his client, legal scholar Benny Tai Yiu-ting, as incitement. Labelling Tai’s speeches as such, Cheung argued, could have “a very damaging chilling effect on freedom of expression”.
Occupy Central co-founders (left to right) Reverent Chu Yiu-ming, Benny Tai and Chan Kin-man appear at the District Court in Wan Chai in 2017. Photo: David Wong
Occupy Central co-founders (left to right) Reverent Chu Yiu-ming, Benny Tai and Chan Kin-man appear at the District Court in Wan Chai in 2017. Photo: David Wong
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Tai, 56, along with the movement’s co-founders – retired sociologist Chan Kin-man, 62, and Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, 77 – were among nine democracy advocates returning to court this week in a bid to overturn their 2019 convictions on a host of conspiracy and incitement charges over their roles in the massive civil disobedience movement.

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