Magistrate Cleared Of Bias Against Protesters

An Eastern Court magistrate has been cleared of allegations that he is biased against anti-government protesters after the Chief Magistrate investigated three cases Cheang Keo-hong handled and rule that the complaints against him were unsubstantiated.

In one of the cases, Cheang sentenced an 81-year-old man to three months and six days in jail for stabbing former lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung with a chisel.

After media reports quoted Cheang as praising the defendant for his love of society, complaints were filed against the magistrate for justifying criminal acts and encouraging violent conduct between people with different political views.

But Chief Magistrate Victor So said he went through the transcript of Cheang's remarks and found that "what [Cheang] said at the time was that according to the defendant, he loved society and committed the offence due to different political views", and had in fact "repeatedly admonished the defendant saying he should not resort to violence because of difference in opinions".

In another case, a graphic designer was sentenced by Cheang to five months and 15 days’ in prison for attacking a policeman with an umbrella and possessing two cans of spray paint with an intent to damage property.

There were complaints that Cheang's reasons for conviction were unconvincing, and that he was biased when he described the defendant's act as "selfish" and "deplorable".

So ruled that when using those two adjectives, Cheang's aim was "to point out the seriousness of the case in terms of criminality and comparing it to other cases, with a view to explaining the underlying sentencing considerations".

In the third case, a 20-year-old student was sentenced to 10 months behind bars for possessing weapons, namely three aerosol cans and lighters.

Cheang was accused of being biased in his sentence and had targeted the defendant who had a political stance.

But after going through records of the court proceedings, So – who is one of Chief Executive Carrie Lam's handpicked national security magistrates – concluded that Cheang's oral reasons for sentencing had "articulated the basis and reasons for the sentence passed".

So said Cheang "had not expressed any view that indicates a personal or political inclination, or gives rise to a perception of apparent bias" in any of the three cases.