Former Hong Kong student leaders face jail over university council siege
Magistrate finds Billy Fung guilty of disorderly conduct and Colman Li of obstructing a public officer during campus chaos last year
Former student union president Billy Fung Jing-en, 23, was convicted after trial on one count of disorderly conduct in a public place, adding to the charges of criminal damage and attempted forcible entry to which he had already pleaded guilty.
Fung’s then vice-president Colman Li Fung-kei, 22, was found guilty of obstructing a public officer in the performance of his duty. He blocked a senior paramedic, who eventually took more than an hour to get council member Leonie Ki Man-fung to hospital after protesters kicked her.
Sentencing was adjourned to September 21, pending reports on the pair’s backgrounds and the feasibility of community service as a punishment, plus a medical report on Fung who has suffered from leukaemia and a brain tumour.
Both students were granted bail on condition that they not leave Hong Kong, except for Fung in the first week of September when he has to register for studies at National Taiwan University.
Magistrate Ko Wai-hung said he was open to all sentencing options despite calling for the reports. “This is a serious case. Imprisonment remains a highly likely option,” he told the students in the dock.
However, defence counsel Martin Lee Chu-ming SC said the case did not merit a deterrent sentence given no one was harmed.
