Lawmaker in court over flag desecration

Separatist lawmaker Cheng Chung-tai has a case to answer over desecrating the national and special administrative region flags in the Legislative Council chamber last year, the Eastern Magistrates’ Court ruled on Thursday.

Cheng allegedly flipped several flags upside down “twice” during a LegCo session on Oct 19.

The court started to hear the case on Thursday. During the hearing, video footage showing Cheng flipping the flags inside the chamber was displayed. If convicted, Cheng faces a fine of up to HK$50,000 and three years in jail for desecrating the national flag, and a HK$10,000 fine and one year in jail for desecrating the regional flag.

If convicted and sentenced to more than one month in prison, Cheng risks being disqualified as a legislator.

Article 79 of the Basic Law stipulates that any lawmaker sentenced to more than one month in prison for a criminal offense will be subject to disqualification if two-thirds of the 70 lawmakers agree.

Those being jailed for more than three months will not be allowed to run for LegCo for five years.

Testifying against Cheng, lawmaker Edward Lau Kwok-fan, who brought 12 pairs of the national and regional flags to the chamber, said he and his fellow legislators displayed the flags on their desks to show support for the country and the special administrative region as some separatist lawmakers made anti-China remarks and advocated “Hong Kong independence” during their oath-taking session on Oct 12.

During a session break Lau, a member of the city’s biggest political party the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, saw on live-stream TV in the members’ lounge that Cheng had approached the DAB members’ desks and flipped all those flags upside down, one by one.

Then Lau saw his colleague Ann Chiang Lai-wan, another DAB legislator, show up in the chamber, restore the flags and criticize Cheng for disrespecting the flags.

Chiang, who also testified on Thursday, said she was “furious” because of Cheng’s misbehavior.

Lau and Chiang’s testimony proved to be identical with the footage from the LegCo live meeting broadcast and a TV station, and also tallied with written testimony of a LegCo security guard who witnessed the scene.

Cheng denied both charges of desecrating the national and regional flags but did not testify or called any witnesses.

The magistrate adjourned the hearing until Sept 15 when he will hear the closing remarks from both sides.