Hong Kong’s top court allows appeal against decision to acquit Tiananmen vigil group member of incitement
- Justice department’s appeal against Chow Hang-tung’s acquittal approved as case involves points of ‘great and general importance’, three judges say
- Chow’s conviction was quashed in December by a High Court judge
Hong Kong’s highest court has allowed the justice department to appeal against a judge’s decision to acquit an activist of incitement over alleged calls to join an unauthorised assembly to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Three Court of Final Appeal judges on Thursday ruled that Chow Hang-tung’s case involved two legal points of “great and general importance”, the test for a successful appeal request.
Chow, 38, was jailed for 15 months in January last year after a magistrate found her guilty of inciting others to take part in a banned candlelight vigil at Victoria Park on June 4, 2021.
A High Court judge quashed her conviction in December on the grounds that police had failed to discharge their positive duty to facilitate the intended gathering, rendering its ban on the vigil unlawful.
But the judge accepted her ruling entailed legal implications which deserved further scrutiny by the city’s top court.
Prosecutors had questioned whether an accused facing a charge of inciting an unauthorised assembly should be allowed to defend themselves in trial by casting doubt on the legality of police banning the gathering.
They also called into question the correct approach by the court in considering a defence challenge to the lawfulness of the police order.
