Pan-dems In Court Over Legco 'poison Attacks'

Former pro-democracy lawmakers Chu Hoi-dick, Ray Chan and Ted Hui were released on bail on Thursday after appearing in court accused of attacking other legislators with noxious substances.

The trio, who were arrested on Wednesday, face charges of contempt by creating a disturbance during a Legco meeting on June 4, and unlawfully and maliciously administering a noxious substance, with intent to injure, aggrieve, or annoy.

Hui is further charged with contempt over a separate meeting on May 28, and with trying to poison Legco president Andrew Leung.

Some of the alleged attacks involved foul-smelling liquids splashed in the council, while one incident featured a rotten plant.

West Kowloon magistrate May Chung approved the defence’s request to adjourn the case to February 11 pending a Court of Final Appeal decision on whether to hear an appeal on another contempt of Legco case involving disqualified lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung. Leung has been prosecuted for snatching a stack of documents from a government official during a Legco meeting in 2016.

Chu, Chan and Hui, who were flanked by a few dozen supporters at the court, described their arrests as political suppression.

“It is an honour for me as a political representative of the Hong Kong people to face prosecution from the dictatorship caused by our actions to stop the passage of the national anthem ordinance. It is our duty to fight for Hong Kong people, and we did just that,” Chu said.

He added that he was grateful to the European Union for showing concern over their case.

“We are not alone in the fight against dictatorship and history has told us that appeasement to dictators doesn’t work.”

Chan said that during the past eight years as a lawmaker, he had seen many occasions where lawmakers were removed from meetings because of their protests. But he said over the past two years, the government and the pro-establishment camp have been trying to completely stifle all protests in Legco.

He said it is clear that the government is continuing its crackdown on the pan-democratic camp, even though the lawmakers have all quit Legco.