Xinqi Su 蘇昕琪 Profile picture
Feb 3 7 tweets 4 min read
#thread
What's happening in HK on Monday? Border fully reopened, and the largest by-far #NSL trial kicking off after 2 yrs of pre-trial proceeding - when 34 / 47 defendants were kept behind bars, 31 / 47 chose to plead guilty, and at least 3 turned into prosecution witnesses.
In this advancer w/ @JeromeTaylor we reviewed what this case is about, who are among those being charged, what are the key legal disputes, and how analysts observe / understand the trial.

sg.news.yahoo.com/hong-kongs-lar…
HK's former legal sector lawmaker @denniswhkwok told @AFP the trial is "a complete farce" : "Subversion...doesn't include people who simply run for office and pledge to use their public office to force the government to respond to the demands of the people they represent."
But senior counsel sitting in HK's cabinet Ronny Tong has a different understanding. "I would assume if your intent is to bring down the government, then that must be unlawful," Tong told @AFP adding he would keep an eye on what "criminal acts" the prosecution would point out.
Legal-political scholars see both stern warning from the authorities and space for the accused to voice out.

Ming-sung Kuo of the Warwick University told @AFP "this case will send quite a strong signal that any challenge to the authority ... will be taken seriously".
Both Kuo and @laiyanhoeric agreed that since the trial is still happening in an open court, what the prosecution and the defendants say will send ripples across the opposition-annulled society.
Lai @laiyanhoeric told @AFP said Hong Kongers will be paying close attention to "how the prosecution defines an ordinary civil society event as a criminal act".

The trial will be heard by 3 gov-picked judges and without a jury as the SJ ordered (AFP first reported last Aug).

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More from @XinqiSu

Feb 5
#NOW a curious long queue is extending outside the West Kowloon Court for the #NSL trial with 47 democrats charged of “conspiracy to commit subversion”. Many of them queued overnight and refused to talk to reporters. Some said they don’t know what the case is about.
A woman at the head of the queue said she wanted to see whether there would be a fair verdict and appeared to have no idea it’s the beginning of the trial. “They indeed committed a crime so I want to see whether the court would give them fair punishment.”
Three men down the line told me they had no idea what the case is about. One said he came as his wife ordered (at that moment a woman behind him asked him to stop talking to reporters), and another one said he came because he watched a movie about a trial recently.
Read 14 tweets
Jan 16
#NOW HK Chief Justice Andrew Cheung is delivering his speech for ceremonial opening of the legal year 2023. His speech will devote to “role of the judiciary” - “an inaccurate, incomplete or misconceived understanding of the role of the Judiciary is often the reason…
…an inaccurate, incomplete or misconceived understanding of the role of the Judiciary is often the reason for misplaced or inappropriate criticisms of court decisions, or even personal attacks against our judges,” Cheung said.
“It is …entirely proper for someone, if there are good grounds, to criticise the court or a judge for misapplying the law. It is, however, wrong to criticise a judge simply for applying laws which one does not like or agree with…laws are not enacted by judges”
Read 13 tweets
Jan 12
#CONTINUE Chung Pui-kuen is on the witness stand for the 3rd day. Today defense counsel Audrey Eu began to ask Chung questions about how the prosecution described what happened in Hong Kong in 2019 and after #NSL came in force and the 17 "seditious" articles.
For background this is an old thread about the prosecution's case against #StandNews and what "judicial notice" they wanted the court to take in order to determine the nature of the offence:
The prosecution cited the opening paragraph describing HK's situation since the protests in 2019 in a resolution by the NPCSC on May 28, 2020 to enact an #NSL for Hong Kong. The paragraph said since the #antiELAB protests in 2019, "anti-China destabilising forces in Hong Kong"...
Read 38 tweets
Jan 11
#CONTINUE #StandNews founding chief editor Chung Pui-kuen began this morning his second day on witness stand. The first QA session with his defense counsel lasted 1.5 hours and ended when Chung choked in tears as he spoked about the last day of #AppleDaily in June 2021.
* Chung told the court that after #NSL came in force, he decided to stop publishing any commentary that advocated for independence and separation of any part of China, however, he did not set such a red line for #StandNews reporting.
* "If a political figure with public attention indeed raised such a proposition, we believed we should still let our readers know instead of filtering it out, otherwise, some readers might believe that person was rather moderate and trust-worthy."
Read 26 tweets
Jan 10
#DEVELOPING Chung Pui-kuen, founding chief editor of #StandNews began to take the witness stand this morning as defense started their case.

A few points from Chung's account:
* The 3 founders of #StandNews chose to surrender their rights to benefits and to sell the company shares to a trust fund in order to minimize impacts on the news company in case any of them were under threats or pressure - a lesson learned from the shuttering of House News.
* #StandNews registered with the regulator of newspapers and magazines the day after HK gov announced to allow online media to join official pressers etc in 2017 because #StandNews wanted to provide more comprehensive coverage and better discharge duty to supervise the authority.
Read 25 tweets
Nov 29, 2022
A #thread on what led to HK leader's propose of first interpretation of #NSL, what questions have arisen from his proposal, and what may be at stake as the matter continues to unfold.

It started with #JimmyLai hoping to engage veteran British lawyer Tim Owen KC for #NSL trial.
Jimmy Lai, founder of the now-shuttered #AppleDaily, is charged of 2 counts of "conspiracy to collude with foreign forces" under the #NSL and 1 count of "conspiracy to publish seditious publication" under HK's Crimes Ordinance. The former can lead to life in jail.
While all the other individuals involved in Lai's case have pleaded guilty, Lai and 3 #AppleDaily companies were originally scheduled to stand trial from 1 Dec. The date was fixed by 3 designated #NSL judges although Lai's HK lawyer made it clear he would not be available.
Read 21 tweets

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