Last Three Cops Win Appeal Bid In Ken Tsang Case

The last three policemen convicted of beating Occupy protester Ken Tsang during the 2014 Umbrella Movement have been given the green light to appeal their cases, joining four others who had previously received permission from the Court of Appeal to challenge their convictions and sentences.

Court of Appeal judge Michael Lunn decided that there are reasonable grounds to argue that the trial judge could have made a mistake when he identified Sergeant Pak Wing-pun, and Constables Chan Siu-tan and Kwan Ka-ho, as being the individuals filmed in video evidence submitted to the court.

Lawyers for the officers suggested that the judge had deprived the defendants of an opportunity to defend themselves by using what they wore as part of his basis for ruling that they were the ones shown in the video – noting that he had done so on his own, without any invitation from the prosecution.

The defense also suggested the trial judge had too lax a standard for deciding whether the video is genuine – a point that the Court of Appeal agreed could be challenged because it is a matter of law.

All seven convicted officers waiting for an appeal are out on bail. They were each sentenced to two years in prison last year for assault occasioning actual bodily harm.