HONG KONG – A Hong Kong judge was beaten at a subway station in 2019 during an anti-government protest in the city, sentenced a former pro-democratic lawmaker to three years and one month in prison.
Lam Cheuk-ting was injured when a group of men equipped with wooden poles and metal rods attacked protesters and bystanders at Yuen Long Train Station on July 21, 2019. The attackers wore black costumes opposite to the protesters’ black costumes, claiming that they were in Yuen Long Yuen Residential in territories territories yuen Residential territories Yuen Residential procement territories yuen procedural territories territories.
Last December, District Court Judge Stanley Chan ruled Lam guilty of riots, and found his words to the man in white shirt “inciting the flames.” Chan rejected Lam’s claim that he served as a mediator or protected residents as a member of parliament on the spot, saying he was trying to use the situation to seek political benefits.
The landmark verdict could shape the city’s historical narrative of the 2019 incident, a turning point that exacerbated the protest movement as public criticized police delayed responses. Local media reported that about 10 men in white shirts were convicted in other circumstances related to the conflict in the subway station.
The judge said at a hearing Thursday that although Lin did not engage in violence, his presence as a lawmaker and politician led to a worsening of the confrontational situation. Chen said Lin did not show remorse in his letter, aiming to defend.
The former MP said in a letter to the judge that he once thought it was right or wrong, or even a crime.
“I have no resentment or regrets for this. But my inner gui comes from causing pain to the dear I raised and raised,” he said.
In the same case, Chen also ordered six less prominent defendants to be imprisoned for two years and one month to two months and seven months, including some who used hoses to throw objects at men in white shirts or had water spray heads turned on. Chan dismissed the argument that some of them acted in self-defense in his December verdict.
Some people sat in public galleries and cried as Chan reads the sentence.
Hours before the hearing, several defendants’ supporters waving in prison vans outside the court building and shouting “Ga Yau”, a common phrase for Cantonese encouragement. Lin smiled at his supporters as he entered the court.
The 2019 protests were triggered by a proposed extradition law that would have allowed suspects in Hong Kong to be sent to the mainland for trial. The government withdraws the bill, but protesters have expanded requirements including direct elections for Chinese leaders and police accountability.
Social movements have been the biggest challenge for the Hong Kong government since the former British colonies returned to China in 1997. In response, Beijing implemented a national security law in 2020, resulting in arrests from many activists. Others were silent or exiled.
Lin has served six years and nine months in the city’s largest national security case. Chen said he could serve three months of three months at the same time as the sentence.
Last week, the party he belonged to took the first step towards disbanding, another sign of political changes in the city since Beijing implemented the Security Law, a necessary condition for restoring stability in Hong Kong.
