Hong Kong 47: witness admits giving recordings from meeting on unofficial primary to police, says group’s goals went against ‘society’s interests’
- Informant, who cannot be named due to gag order, denies infiltrating opposition camp to gather evidence, insists recording were for private ‘research’
- Source taped private discussion on May 2020 before filing anonymous report to police containing 11 video clips, two audio files later that year
The source, who cannot be named due to a gag order, on Tuesday denied infiltrating the opposition camp to gather evidence and insisted he had taped the private discussions in May 2020 for his own “research”.
But he dodged questions about the nature and result of his purported study, as well as his reasons for assisting authorities after Beijing imposed the national security law at the end of the following month.
The informant’s testimony emerged on the 55th day of a 90-day trial involving 16 of the 47 opposition figures, who are contesting a joint subversion charge stemming from the opposition-led primary in July 2020.
In supporting their case, prosecutors had previously made reference to a May 8 meeting among some of the prospective contenders for the primary.
One of the organisers, former law professor Benny Tai Yiu-ting, had said in the meeting that blocking budgets was the first step to pursuing other political goals, including pressing authorities to respond to demands raised by anti-government protesters in 2019.
The two-hour session was taped by the informant, who claimed to be Tai’s “acquaintance” and had no political affiliation.
