Postponed bail hearings keep Hong Kong democrats in detention
Bail appeal hearings for 11 of the 47 pro-democracy activists charged with subversion under the national security law are postponed to next week, as the judge demands the prosecution to submit more documents by next Monday.
The group was brought to the High Court on Saturday, after the Department of Justice challenged a lower court’s decision to grant bail to 15 opposition figures, before dropping the appeal against four of them.
Madam Justice Esther Toh completed the directions hearings shortly before 3 p.m. on Saturday and adjourned the cases until March 11 and 13. Meanwhile, the democrats would remain in custody.
After the judge declared the new dates for the bail hearings on Saturday morning, legal representatives of district councilors Cheng Tat-hung, Michael Pang and Kalvin Ho attempted to apply for an interim bail for their clients. But Toh refused to hear their requests, saying “it’s a closed door at the moment.”
Former lawmakers Wong Pik-Wan and Jeremy Tam, district councilors Sze Tak-loy and Sam Cheung were returned to detention after completing their proceedings at around noon. The other four dissidents, including Ng Kin-wai, Kwok Ka-ki, Ricky Or and Lee Yue-shun, did not attempt to apply for an interim bail during the afternoon session.
Toh said she received letters from the defense and hoped she could make her rulings today, but the court needed more time to consider arguments presented by both sides before reaching decisions.
Supporters reassembled before the afternoon session commenced at 2:30 p.m. Dozens of uniformed and plainclothes officers cordoned off the area outside the courthouse and dished out fines for COVID-19 public gathering violations to citizens, most of whom had a queue ticket in their hands
One citizen found the penalty unreasonable as he was just sitting on his own without speaking to anyone. Likewise, district councilor Leung Kwok-wah said he got slapped a fine ticket just one minute after he sat down. A woman, surnamed Ng, slammed the police for abusing their powers. They said they would not pay the fines.
Earlier in the morning, dozens of citizens were seen queuing outside the courthouse for a ticket hours before the hearing started at 10 a.m. At least 50 police officers were deployed.
Hendrick Lui and Clarisse Yeung, two of the four defendants released on bail on Friday evening, also appeared at the court in a show of support.
As the court rejected the interim bail application of Cheng, police officers immediately asked citizens in the queue to leave, citing public gathering restrictions.
Among those in the queue at 8 a.m. was a 71-years-old lady surnamed Kwok, who said she attended three of the four marathon days of hearings over the week. “I’ll do my best to show my support so that I won’t regret when I die,” she said.
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