'Transparent Mainland Courts Allow Photo Taking'

A mainland woman accused of taking photographs during a trial last month told the High Court on Friday that she has attended trials in Beijing, and mainland courts allow the taking of photos to increase the transparency of the judicial system.

Tang Lin-ling, who began her own defence on the second day of hearings, said that was in line with the mainland government's "sunshine policy on the administration of justice".

But at one point she told the court she can't remember whether she had snapped some of the photos that witnesses claimed they had seen.

Tang, who is representing herself after rejecting help for legal aid, said she attended the court hearing on May 23 with "respect in her heart", and never intended to commit contempt of court.

She dismissed a witness' testimony that she had been been using her WeChat messenger throughout the hearing and had uploaded at least two photos of the entrance of the courtroom as well as the courtroom itself.

Tang said she did not use her WeChat at all during the trial because she had switched her phone to flight mode. But said she couldn't dismiss the possibility that someone had hacked into her phone before the trial and remotely controlled her WeChat account during the hearing.

While cross examining a police witness earlier in the day, she also questioned whether anybody had tampered with her phone after it was confiscated in the photo-taking incident.

The officer surnamed Lau said that wasn't possible while the phone was in police hands. He also confirmed that police had found three photographs of the court proceedings in Tang's phone.

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