Hong Kong’s Department of Justice (DoJ) has announced it will not appeal the acquittal of one of the democrats cleared of conspiring to commit subversion in the city’s largest national security case, after earlier saying it intended to challenge the judges’ ruling.
The department said on Thursday that it would not challenge the acquittal of former district councillor Lee Yue-shun. Lee and barrister Lawrence Lau, were cleared last month in the high-profile trial of 16 democrats over their involvement in an unofficial primary election in July 2020.
A government prosecutor said in court after the rulings were delivered that the DoJ intended to appeal against Lee and Lau’s acquittals.
The DoJ on Thursday announced it had filed an appeal against Lau’s not-guilty verdict.
Lee, Lau and their 14 co-defendants convicted of the subversion charge were among 47 arrested under a Beijing-imposed security law in January 2021 over the unofficial primaries held in an attempt to understand which candidates to put forward to gain a controlling majority in an upcoming Legislative Council election.
They stood accused of planning to use legislative powers to indiscriminately veto bills – such as the budget – ultimately forcing the chief executive’s resignation and a government shutdown. Most have been detained since being taken into police custody on February 28, 2021, ahead of a marathon bail hearing.
A ‘late comer’ to campaign
Lau and Lee became the first two people tried under the Beijing-imposed security law to be cleared of their charges.
Both had been granted bail while awaiting trial. While they were allowed to leave the dock, director of public prosecutions Maggie Yang invoked a new legal rule requesting that the bail conditions both were subject to ahead of the verdict hearing be extended pending a possible appeal against their acquittal from the prosecution.
In acquitting Lee, who was at the time a member of the Civic Party, the judges called him a “late comer” to the party’s primary election campaign. As a result, he had not taken part in a meeting during which then-party leader Alvin Yeung was said to have pledged to veto the budget indiscriminately.
The court ruled that the prosecution had also failed to prove that Lee was part of the Civic Party’s endorsement of the “Resolute Resistance, Inked Without Regret” declaration, one of the prosecution’s key pieces of evidence.
Signatories to the document endorsed using the power conferred to lawmakers under the Basic Law – including vetoing the budget – to compel the chief executive to respond to five demands made by Hong Kong protesters in 2019.
Mitigation for the case will begin later this month. Five defendants – former district councillors Andrew Chiu and Ben Chung, ex-lawmaker Au Nok-hin, ex-law professor Benny Tai and activist Gordon Ng are scheduled to appear in court on June 25.
Those convicted face up to life imprisonment under the security law.
Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure.
The move gave police sweeping new powers and led to hundreds of arrests amid new legal precedents, while dozens of civil society groups disappeared. The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners, the UN and NGOs.
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