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Bloomberg
A Hong Kong court overturned the conviction of a prominent local democracy activist for her role in a banned Tiananmen memorial last year, in a rare victory for the city’s beleaguered
opposition.
Chow Hang Tung was cleared by the High Court of charges of inciting others to take part in an unauthorised assembly in June 2021 to commemorate China’s 1989 crackdown on demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. Chow, who helped lead a now-disbanded group that organised the annual vigil, had been convicted and sentenced to 10 months jail by a lower court in January.
The government could yet appeal the decision and Chow will likely remain in jail as she battles more serious national security charges over her ties to the vigil organiser, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. Still, the ruling represents a rare setback to government efforts to restrict public protests ostensibly protected by the former British colony’s charter.
Judge Judianna Barnes ruled that the prosecution failed to demonstrate the legal basis for banning the 2021 event. As a result, “it is not an offense for the appellant to appeal to others to come to Victoria Park to meet,†Barnes wrote.