'Long Hair' Jailed For 14 Days For Folder-snatching

Eastern Magistracy on Tuesday sentenced former lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung to 14 days in prison after finding him guilty of contempt of Legco.

Leung, 66, was found guilty of breaching the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance by snatching a folder from the then Under Secretary for Development, Eric Ma, on November 15, 2016, at a Legco panel meeting.

Handing down her judgement, principal magistrate Ada Yim said Leung had ignored orders from the panel chair and had disrupted the order of the meeting. She said his actions had affected other attendees, preventing them from exercising their constitutional duty.

She noted that Leung had committed similar offences before and set a starting point for his sentence at 21 days in prison.

But the magistrate decided to reduce the term by a week, taking into account that Leung had been in public office for many years, and that he is suffering from heart disease.

Leung, who is already in jail for other protest-related offences, will have to serve his jail term for the case separately, the court ruled.

In September 2021, after years of legal battles between Leung and the Department of Justice over the case, the Court of Final Appeal ruled in favour of the government and rejected Leung’s bid to stave off a prosecution for the offence.

The city’s top court ruled that Leung's action was not protected by Legco's powers and privileges. The case was handed back to Eastern Magistracy for a retrial afterwards.