Media companies not obliged to hand over footage of Ken Tsang apprehension by Hong Kong police, judge says
Police claim video is in public interest and necessary to help piece together chain of events during activist’s apprehension at Occupy protest
Unedited raw footage showing the “subduing” of activist Ken Tsang Kin-chiu during the pro-democracy Occupy protests in 2014 would not help a police investigation into the incident, a High Court judge said yesterday.
A court order telling five media organisations,to produce footage of the events might even hurt press freedom, said Mrs Justice Judianna Barnes Wai-ling.
In separate cases still to be heard, seven police officers face charges after Ken Tsang was allegedly beaten up on October 15, 2014, while Tsang himself also faces a charge of assaulting and resisting police officers. Video footage of the incident was widely circulated at the time.
“Footage [of the event is] already in the public domain... Everybody knows what has been shown,” Barnes said, responding to the application for TVB, Apple Daily, Asia Television, i-Cable and Now TV parent company PCCW to produce footage taken during the apprehension of Tsang.
David Leung Cheuk-yin, SC, representing the police, said the force required footage showing the chain of events, starting with Tsang allegedly splashing liquid on officers during the confrontation, which lasted for 23 minutes.
Some of the recordings featured the facial expression of Tsang as he was allegedly
assaulted by officers and carried away, Leung told the court.