Yau Wai-ching, Sixtus Leung Guilty In Legco Case

Two ousted pro-independence lawmakers and three assistants have been found guilty of taking part in an unlawful assembly for storming a Legislative Council meeting in November 2016.

Sixtus Leung and Yau Wai-ching of Youngspiration were banned from taking part in the Legco meeting after they failed to take their oaths of office properly.

At Kowloon City Court, acting principal magistrate Wong Sze-Lai said it was obvious the duo's action was planned, coordinated and involved excessive force.

She also said Leung’s “provocative” action showed he was angry and out of control.

The court had heard that during 20 minutes of scuffles, Leung, Yau and their assistants kept pushing against security guards who were stopping them from entering the conference room. Leung also tried to grab the entrance door and tried to leap over a line of guards.

The magistrate ruled that the Youngspiration pair and their assistants had acted together for a common purpose, and “such acts were likely to cause any person reasonably to fear that the persons so assembled would commit a breach of the peace".

The magistrate said that whether Leung and Yau were officially lawmakers at the time did not matter, as their action involved a crime regardless of their status.

She said they would not be exempted from criminal liability even if they were considered to be lawmakers, as their attempt to force their way into the conference room was unrelated to Legco business. She said the court had jurisdiction over this case and it wasn’t a contravention of the "principle of non-intervention".

During the trial, Leung and Yau argued that they did not plan and coordinate their action. But the magistrate said their claim was ”unbelievable”.

She described them as “comrades” who had been acting together to achieve the same goal, that is, to enter the meeting and re-take their oaths of office.

At least five security guards were injured in the chaos and taken to hospital for treatment.

The five defendants were released on bail, with sentencing expected to take place on June 4.

Speaking outside the court after the hearing, Leung said he was disappointed with the ruling.

"There are a few major principles that I think the judgement is missing: whether the president of Legco's orders were legal or not; whether we were legco members at that moment; and whether the security was lawful or not. These important principles are more important than the judgement for ourselves," Leung said.

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