‘Dragon Slayers’
AceBreakingNews – On Thursday, a panel of nine jurors delivered their verdicts following the landmark trial of seven people charged under the UN (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Ordinance Murmurs of surprise emanated from the public gallery as the verdicts were read. One man has been convicted over an alleged bomb plot to kill police officers during the 2019 protests and unrest. The remaining six defendants were found not guilty by the nine-member jury. Justin Hui leaves Hong Kong’s High Court on August 29, 2024, after being found not guilty over a thwarted bomb plot to murder police officers in 2019.
Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Lai Chun-pong was found guilty of the alternative charge of conspiracy to cause explosion with intent to endanger life or property. He was found not guilty of the original charge of conspiracy to commit bombing of prescribed objects, and cleared of a separate charge of conspiracy to murder.
The panel delivered their verdicts on Thursday following the landmark trial under the UN (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Ordinance.
Cheung Chun-fu, Cheung Ming-yu, Yim Man-him, Christian Lee, Justin Hui, Lau Pui-ying, and Lai were charged over a thwarted bomb plot to murder police officers during a rally in Wan Chai on December 8, 2019.
Lau was cleared of conspiracy to provide or collect property to commit terrorist acts. Lee, Hui, Yim, Cheung Chun-fu and Cheung Ming-yu were all cleared of the alternative bombing conspiracy charges and the murder conspiracy charges. Christian Lee leaves Hong Kong’s High Court on August 29, 2024, after being found not guilty over a thwarted bomb plot to murder police officers in 2019.
The nine-member jury of six women and three men had to reach a unanimous decision, or a decision agreed on by at least seven jurors, for an effective verdict.
Seven members of the panel found Lai guilty, while two said he was not guilty. He was found not guilty for the alternative bombing conspiracy charge and the murder conspiracy charge, both with an 8-to-1 split.
The other defendants were unanimously found not guilty for the bombing conspiracy and murder conspiracy charges. Lau Pui-ying was found not guilty by a seven-juror majority.
Quiet murmurs of surprise emanated from the public gallery as the court clerk prompted the lead juror to read out the panel’s mostly not-guilty verdicts for each of the charges against the defendants. Lawyers looked back at the defendants in the dock with wide smiles as the verdicts came in one by one.
High Court judge Judianna Barnes – on behalf of the judiciary and the Hong Kong government – thanked the jurors for sacrificing their time and dismissed them from the courtroom.
A conspiracy to commit bombing of prescribed objects is punishable by up to life behind bars, while the alternative charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Taking part in a conspiracy to provide or collect property to commit terrorist acts is punishable by up to 14 years in jail.
18-months’ jail for arms possession
Cheung Chun-fu was handed 18 months in jail after pleading guilty to possession of arms or ammunition with intent to endanger life.
Barnes handed down a starting point of 20 months for possessing two boxes of fireworks and 12 months for possessing four pepper spray canisters, which Barnes said were considered firearms under Hong Kong law.
Cheung’s cooperation with the police investigation would not warrant a further reduction as it had already been subsumed into the one-fourth discount for his guilty plea, Barnes said, adding that she did not accept the defence’s submission that the pepper spray was for self-defence.
As the fireworks and pepper spray were different in nature, the court could not allow for the sentences to be carried out concurrently, said Barnes. Three months would be carried out consecutively from the 15-month fireworks sentence, bringing the tally up to 18 months.
Cheung was taken back into remand while the Correctional Services Department calculated the time he would actually have to serve, taking into account that had been detained for seven months in mainland China after a foiled speedboat escape, and another 10 months for perverting the course of justice in Hong Kong once he returned to the city.
Photojournalists outside the High Court struggled to get shots of the acquitted being driven out of the courthouse as police officers stepped into frame, blocking a clear line of sight. The police set up a media zone and a police zone with steel barriers on either side of the pavement, leaving a path less than two metres wide for pedestrians to pass through.
According to the prosecution, the defendants were members of two radical groups – including a group called “Dragon Slayers” – that had planned the bomb attack during the rally organised by the now-shuttered pro-democracy group Civil Human Rights Front.
Members of Dragon Slayers planned to lure police officers into the vicinity of the two bombs in Hennessey Road, while a gunman from the other radical group would open fire at police from a nearby building, the prosecution claimed.
The bombs could have caused severe casualties to civilians and properties had they been set off, lead prosecutor Juliana Chow had said.
Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.”
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