Court To Hear Appeal Over Chow Hang-tung Acquittal

The Court of Final Appeal on Thursday gave the government the go-ahead to challenge a lower court’s decision to clear Chow Hang-tung of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China of inciting people to take part in an unauthorised assembly.

Chow, who was vice-chairwoman of the group, had earlier been found guilty of inciting people to join a banned June 4 vigil in 2021 and was handed a 15-month jail sentence.

But at the High Court last December, Chow won an appeal against the conviction, with a judge saying that although she had indeed called for people to gather at Victoria Park, her action was not a crime because the police ban on the vigil was not legally sound.

The force had cited the pandemic for outlawing the vigil, but the judge said officers failed to consider measures to control the spread of Covid and had disregarded an expert report that discouraged large-scale gatherings only if people were not wearing masks.

After considering the Department of Justice's application to challenge the High Court ruling, the Court of Final Appeal ruled that there is an important point of law to consider, namely whether it was correct that Chow was able to question the legality of the police decision to ban the vigil.

The government's appeal will be heard on November 22.