Police assault trial of Occupy protester Ken Tsang kicks off in Hong Kong court
The pro-democracy activist denies five charges relating to his arrest as defence disputes integrity of televised footage of October 2014 encounter
The police assault trial of pro-democracy activist Ken Tsang Kin-chiu began on Monday with the Occupy protester denying all five charges and the integrity of television footage relied upon by the prosecution being called into question.
Tsang, 40, pleaded not guilty at Kowloon City Court to one count of assaulting police officers in the due execution of their duties, and four other charges of resisting a police officer.
Prosecutor David Leung Cheuk-yin SC accused Tsang of pouring a scented liquid on 11 police officers on October 15, 2014, before resisting arrest by six officers in the aftermath.
Media companies not obliged to hand over footage of Ken Tsang apprehension by Hong Kong police, judge says
The alleged offences took place at a planter above the eastern entrance of Lung Wo Road underpass in Admiralty.
The five-day trial opened with Leung indicating the prosecution would rely on two video recordings from Asia Television.
Both the prosecution and defence did not dispute the relevance of the televised footage.
However, the defence questioned whether the two videos had been tampered with and demanded a voir dire to determine their integrity.
Defence counsel Robert Pang Yiu-hung SC said there was no disputing that the footage aired on ATV. He stated, however, that “nobody knows how the two videos came about”.
