Protester to stand trial with no jury
The first Hong Kong protester charged under the territory’s national security law will be tried by three judges rather than a jury, after a ruling that he had no right to put his case to his peers.
Tong Ying-kit, 24, is charged with terrorism and inciting secession after a motorcycle rammed into police officers on July 1 last year, one day after Beijing imposed the security law to end a yearlong street protest movement. He is said to have also flown a protest banner calling for the liberation of Hong Kong.
The case is being closely watched as an indication of whether the Hong Kong judiciary will uphold or depart from its traditions.
In February, Tong was told he would be tried without a jury. The authorities cited the need to protect ‘‘the personal safety of jurors and their family members’’, even though the territory’s common law system has used jury trials for 176 years, and they are considered an important feature of the judicial process.
Tong applied for a judicial review, but a designated national security judge ruled yesterday that he did not have a general right to a jury trial.
Tong’s trial is scheduled to start on June 23 before three judges, all picked by Carrie Lam, the territory’s chief executive.
The rule of law in Hong Kong has fallen under the spotlight since Beijing imposed the new security legislation.
Attention has specifically focused on the role of 14 foreign judges who sit on Hong Kong’s court of final appeal. Ten of those judges are British.
In March, senior British opposition legal figures called for the British judges to quit the Hong Kong bench. The judges have defended their continuing role.