Chan Ho-tin Cleared Of Protest-related Charges

Chan Ho-tin, the convenor of the now-disbanded Hong Kong National Party, was on Saturday acquitted of assaulting police and participating in an unlawful assembly in Sheung Shui last year.

He was earlier accused of assaulting a police officer and participating in an unlawful assembly on July 13 last year during one of the city-wide anti-government protests.

Handing down her verdict and clearing Chan of the offences, West Kowloon Court Magistrate Wong Sze-lai said there was insufficient evidence to indicate Chan was the offender, as the perpetrator's face was covered by a mask, according to video footage.

Police arrested Chan around a month after the incident happened, and found the defendant had travelled between Tai Wai and Sheung Shui on the date that the incident took place. Clothes similar to those the offender had worn were also found by officers in Chan’s home.

But the judge said the check-out time registered by Chan's octopus card from Sheung Shui MTR station was very close to the time that the incident happened, and she thinks it would have been too much of a rush if the defendant had dashed to the scene within such a short period of time.

The judge also said there was nothing unusual about the offender’s clothing, and she could not rule out the possiblity that Chan had simply been wearing similar clothes.

Speaking after he was acquitted of the charges, Chan said he was lucky but many others are still suffering from what he called indiscriminate arrest and prosecution.

“We can see the government and the CCP has a systematic way to target people such as what they call rioters and youngsters and to accuse them,” said Chan.

The former pro-independence party leader said it was “natural” for him to be one of the government’s targets, just like media tycoon Jimmy Lai who has been charged with colluding with foreign forces.