Xinqi Su 蘇昕琪 Profile picture
Nov 1 10 tweets 4 min read
#Thread about HK prosecution's opening statement on the #StandNews "conspiracy to publish seditious publications" case.

In the 53-page document, the prosecutor wrote 3 times that the seditious intent in the articles were "self-evident" 不言而喻/不宣而告.
The prosecution said the crux of their case is not about the defendants, namely Best Pencil Ltd, Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam "taking actual actions in accordance with their unlawful agreement", but that they "had reached an unlawful agreement to publish seditious publications"
As said on the first day, the prosecution said they do not have to prove the seditious intent in the defendants; they only have to prove that the defendants were aware of the seditious intent in the articles.
As done in other sedition/incitement cases, the prosecutor first set the stage by alleging #StandNews as "not just an online news outlet, but instead a political platform" citing #StandNews manifesto to "defend democracy, human rights, freedom, rule of law and justice".
To further strengthen their allegation, the prosecutor cited soaring of public subscriptions of #StandNews in 2019 during the anti-extradition law protests, and remarks of Patrick Lam (D3) at a media summit in Dec 2019, when he said #StandNews wanted to...
"bring everyone closer to facts, to have better understanding of the movement, or better understanding of what people participating in the movement were thinking, so that we could have a better common ground for discussions and evaluations, even..to participate."
The prosecution's opening statements have also laid out in written words the authorities' understanding of some highly controversial events in HK in recent years, including the 2019 protests, the pro-dem primaries, the 12 fugitives and the #NSL.
The prosecutors invited the court to adopt these judicial notices (in pic) as a "background" to understand the 17 articles they singled out from #StandNews' publications. They stressed those articles "must be understood against such a background". (xlated by me) Image
The prosecutors also categorized the 17 articles according to different social events they believed the articles were related to, and provided their interpretations of the articles' meanings and intentions. The link between the articles and the events were built via a policewoman Image
The prosecutors said the 17 articles "were apparently deliberately published in an coordinated timing with those anti-government events so to add fuel to the flames and reinforce some anti-government initiatives... D1 to D3 must have the knowledge of their seditious intent".

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Xinqi Su 蘇昕琪

Xinqi Su 蘇昕琪 Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @XinqiSu

Nov 1
District Court #NSL judge Kwok Wai-kin ruled that all 17 articles - though 10 were beyond the 6-month time limit of the sedition offense - are admitted as evidence.

The 17 articles are:

1.Personal feature of @KwaiLamHo as she participated in the primaries
2.Personal feature of @owenchowkashing
3.Personal feature of Fergus Leung
4.Commentary by Chan Pui-man criticising speech crime and sedition offense
5.Commentary by @nathanlawkc entitled “under the new norm of #NSL, how should we resist and keep thinking”
6.Personal feature of @nathanlawkc after he fled to UK
7.Commentary by @nathanlawkc about resilience in a chaotic world
8.Personal feature of @tedhuichifung after he fled Hong Kong
9.Personal feature of @LeungBaggio after he fled Hong Kong
Read 8 tweets
Oct 31
This #thread is about the first day of the trial of #StandNews and its two former chief editors Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, a case as my colleague @holmeschan_ described that "literally put press freedom on trial".

@AFP report up-picked by VOA: voanews.com/a/hong-kong-jo…
The 3 defendants, Best Pencil Ltd (#StandNews parent company) , Chung and Lam, were charged of "conspiracy to publish seditious publications", a British colonial offense the carries up to 24 months in jail.

But Chung and Lam has been in pre-trial detention for 10 months because
...sedition is now treated as a national security crime that's not in the #NSL Beijing imposed on HK in mid-2020 and hence bail is usually denied.

Both Chung and Lam have pleaded not guilty to the charge so they won't have 1/3 discount if they are convicted and facing sentence.
Read 21 tweets
Sep 24
“He asked people to keep breathing” - a #thread about today’s mitigation of the now-disbanded #StudentPoliticism members in their #NSL case of “incitement to subversion” and ballooning issue of minimum sentence and PG discount in #NSL cases.
4 members of #StudentPoliticism Wong Yat-chin, Chan Chi-sum, Chu Wai-ying and Wong Yuen-lam, pleaded guilty in July to one count of “conspiracy to incite subversion”, an offence that carries up to 10 years in jail under #NSL. Mitigation began this morning.
Before D1 Wong Yat-chin’s lawyer started, prosecutor Vincent Lee raised in court that Wong’s FB page published a post 3 days ago in which Wong wrote he had no regret. Lee asked Wong’s lawyer to clarify whether Wong was not remorseful - an element to consider for commutation.
Read 13 tweets
Sep 22
#Thread Hong Kong Journalists Association @HKJA_Official chairman Ronson Chan has arrived in West Kowloon Court. He is in a black tee with the Chinese characters of "press freedom" 新聞自由 at his back. Key things to watch are bail and conditions.
Ronson Chan has pleaded not guilty to the charge of obstructing police officers under the Offences Against the Person Ord, which carries up to 2 yrs in jail, and the alternative charge of obstructing a public officer under the Summary Offences Ordi whose max sentence is 6 months.
#JUSTIN Magistrate Peter Law ruled it's unnecessary to restrict Ronson Chan from leaving Hong Kong as part of his bail condition.
Read 5 tweets
Sep 2
#DEVELOPNG Preliminary inquiry of #HKAlliance's "incitement to subversion" case has started this morning. Chow Hang-tung @zouxingtong told the court, "It's impossible to plead guilty. Pursuing democracy is not a crime. I plead not guilty." She is going to give evidence.
The prosecution submitted 58 statements from 39 witnesses, 136 pieces of documentary exhibits and a for now unclear number of video clips to the court as evidence. No witness will be called to court as a condition Chow agreed earlier in order to strike down reporting restriction.
History of June 4 crackdown in 1989 and over 3 decades of commemorations in Hong Kong comes back in vivid images in open court as Chow Hang-tung replays video footage submitted by the prosecution as evidence against the Alliance's alleged "incitement to subversion" offence.
Read 18 tweets
Aug 18
This is a #thread to explain the reporting restrictions removed today and yesterday re the #NSL cases of 47 pro-dem activists "conspiracy to subversion" and of the #HKAlliance "incitement to subversion".
The ban is pursuant to article 87A of the Magistrates Ordinance and hence popularly known as the "87A ban" or simply "87A" in HK.

The ban covers a pre-trial procedure called "committal proceeding" - when a magistrate is supposed to scrutinize the allegation and...
...decides whether the case is fit and ready for proceeding to formal trial. At this stage, a defendant can opt for a "preliminary inquiry" to go through the prosecution's evidence and examine the witnesses. If a defendant wins a PI, the case will be thrown out of court.
Read 25 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(