Ex-district Councillor Jailed For Contempt Of Court

Former district councillor Lester Shum was on Thursday jailed for six months for contempt of court over a social media post linking the police to the death of university student Chow Tsz-lok in 2019.

Shum earlier pleaded guilty to violating a court injunction that banned the incitement or threat of violence.

In sentencing, High Court judge Russell Coleman noted Shum had turned down requests from the police and the Department of Justice for him to withdraw the Facebook entry made in May 2020, six months after Chow's death, and had only removed it after legal proceedings had started against him.

Coleman said a suspended sentence was therefore unsuitable.

But he accepted that Shum was truly remorseful, while noting that as a public figure, he should've been more careful with what he said.

The judge also ordered Shum to pay HK$25,000 in costs.

Shum had been on remand over a national security law case involving the Legislative Council primaries in 2020.