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A former Hong Kong opposition lawmaker has been cleared of obstructing his political rivals during a chaotic Legislative Council meeting in the lead-up to the 2019 anti-government protests. West Kowloon Court on Thursday found insufficient evidence to show Lam Cheuk-ting interfered with Legco proceedings over a contentious extradition bill. The defendant might also have positioned himself at the centre of clashes between the two rival camps in order to understand the situation and express concern for the health of a veteran lawmaker, who was appointed to preside over the meeting on May 11, 2019. Lam, 48, thanked the presiding magistrate for acquitting him and waved to supporters in the public gallery after the verdict. The Democratic Party ex-lawmaker is currently serving a combined jail sentence of nearly 10 years in three unrelated cases, including a high-profile national security trial. He has denied two counts of “assaulting, obstructing or molesting” a member within the precincts of the Legco chamber for allegedly interfering with his then-colleagues Holden Chow Ho-ding and Ben Chan Han-pan, both affiliated with the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong. The May 11 meeting commenced in chaotic fashion after the opposition repeatedly delayed a procedure to elect a chairman overseeing proceedings to scrutinise the extradition bill. The bill would have enabled the transfer of fugitives from Hong Kong to mainland China, Taiwan and other jurisdictions with which the city previously lacked an extradition agreement, but it was scrapped later that year after triggering citywide unrest. Video footage showed Chow and Chan forming a cordon with other pro-establishment lawmakers to escort Abraham Razack, who was appointed to preside over the meeting, into a conference room where a separate meeting, hosted by the opposition camp’s James To Kun-sun, was in progress. Gary Fan Kwok-wai and Eddie Chu Hoi-dick, both in the opposition camp, attempted to climb over their rivals and grab a microphone held by Razack. Lam held onto Razack’s arm and spoke to him as the latter tried unsuccessfully to allow a chairman to be elected. In the trial, Chow claimed he had witnessed Lam using whatever means possible to stall the meeting, such as by harassing Razack and trying to grab his microphone. Chan also contended the defendant kept speaking to Razack with no genuine intention to take part in the discussion. But the 80-year-old Razack testified in the defence’s favour, saying Lam did not actively intervene with proceedings and that the accused had never used force when he grabbed his arm and asked whether he felt he could carry on. Lam said he acknowledged Razack as having authority over the May 11 meeting and made it clear to him beforehand that he would not take radical action that day, knowing that his pro-establishment colleague had just undergone heart surgery. He also claimed that he was concerned about Razack’s condition and tried to convince him to postpone the meeting when he approached the veteran lawmaker and held his arm during the chaos. In his verdict, Acting Principal Magistrate Andy Cheng Lim-chi found that the video evidence showed that Lam and Razack’s testimonies were plausible, rather than supporting Chow and Chan’s allegations. While finding that Lam did not want the meeting to proceed smoothly, Cheng said he was unsure if the defendant had intended to impede the election procedure with his physical conduct. But the magistrate rejected Lam’s request to have prosecutors bear his legal costs of the trial, saying the former lawmaker had brought suspicion upon himself.
