Ousted Hong Kong lawmaker in last-ditch bid to overturn conviction for storming Legislative Council meeting
- Sixtus Baggio Leung is challenging at Court of Final Appeal his conviction for unlawful assembly, when he barged into a Legco meeting to try and take his oath
- Case is part of the 2016 oath-taking saga triggered by lawmakers’ anti-China antics during swearing-in
Upon serving his four-week jail term, Leung left Hong Kong for the United States in November last year, to seek asylum from “profound political persecution”.
But Leung has not given up his appeal and the top court has agreed to hear it in his absence.
The appeal raised a significant point of law on the proper construction of the phrase “likely to cause any person reasonably to fear” in the unlawful assembly offence created by the Public Order Ordinance.
On Tuesday, his counsel Douglas Kwok King-hin argued that prosecutors must prove the defendant knew, intended or was reckless as to whether his involvement in a public assembly would cause others to reasonably fear a breach of the peace, such that the accused could not be held liable for any fear he unknowingly caused.
