Former alliance member jailed for failing to assist police probe into group

Another former member of an alliance behind Hong Kong’s Tiananmen Square vigil has been jailed for failing to assist a police investigation into the group’s alleged violation of the national security law.

A magistrate hand-picked by city leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to adjudicate national security proceedings yesterday handed down a second sentence under the implementation rules of the legislation imposed by Beijing in June 2020.

Chan To-wai, formerly a standing committee member of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, initially denied the offence of failing to comply with a notice to provide information along with four other members when their case was heard for the first time in September last year.

The 57-year-old was sentenced to three months’ jail at West Kowloon Court yesterday after he reversed his plea the previous day.

The five were arrested on September 8, one day after the group held a press conference outside police headquarters in Wan Chai and submitted a joint letter to the force stating their refusal to cooperate.

Principal Magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen said during the sentencing that the five had hampered an inquiry into “a very serious matter” and undermined the public interest with their deliberate act of defiance.

The magistrate previously slapped the same penalty against standing committee member Simon Leung Kam-wai, 36, who pleaded guilty in December last year.

Three remaining defendants pleaded innocent. They are vice-chairwoman Chow Hangtung, 36, and standing committee members Tsui Hon-kwong, 72, and Tang Ngok-kwan, 53.

While the implementation rules empower the police commissioner to request a range of information from a suspected foreign agent or one with links to Taiwan, the trio argued they had no obligation to cooperate as the alliance was not a foreign agent.

Before the trial, the three asked the court to compel prosecutors to name the countries they alleged the alliance had worked for throughout its 32-year history.

Without offering a direct answer, prosecutor Ivan Cheung Cheuk-kan instead submitted a certificate signed by then chief secretary John Lee Ka-chiu in applying for exemption for disclosing certain documents, including search warrants and an investigation report into the alliance.

Magistrate Law yesterday granted a partial release of the papers but ordered some information be withheld or redacted, such as the names of police officers and entities subject to ongoing investigations, and “any acts, activities and roles involved” which could reasonably lead to the revelation of their identities.

Chow, Tsui and Tang will go on trial on July 13. They face up to six months in jail and a HK$100,000 fine if convicted.