A Hong Kong court has decided not to postpone the hearing for the trial of a pro-Beijing lawmaker, in response to a request by government prosecutors for more time to decide whether to intervene in the private prosecution.

The lawmaker, Kwok Wai-keung, was accused of attacking his pro-democracy colleague, Ray Chan, during a May 8 meeting at the legislature. On Monday, Kwok pleaded not guilty at the West Kowloon Magistrates' Court to one count of common assault, for “deliberately or recklessly putting Chan in fear of the immediate application of unlawful force.”

The case is a rare example of a private prosecution, which the law dictates can be taken over by Department of Justice prosecutors. Chan initiated the private prosecution after the department decided not to lay charges against his alleged attacker.

The department notified Chan last Friday that it would ask for the case to be delayed by six weeks, as prosecutors needed time to review the “large volume” of video evidence before deciding whether to get involved.

Chan’s lawyers contested the move in court, saying the relevant footage was only two minutes and three seconds long, and that the department had possessed the case material for over two months.

Magistrate Peter Law on Monday denied the prosecutors' request, saying that they were unable to justify their slow progress. Law added that, in private prosecutions, the department still had the option of intervening at a later stage of the trial, so the case did not need to be delayed.

Outside court, Chan thanked the judge for maintaining the original schedule of the case and criticized the department for being “indecisive.”

Chan said he was prepared for government prosecutors to intervene to get Kwok off the hook, and that they might sue him or other pro-democracy lawmakers instead. The decision by Hong Kong authorities not to prosecute Kwok reflected poorly on the rule of law, he added.

The case will undergo a pre-trial review on Nov. 9, with the full trial expected to last two days.

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