Why is Chung Yik-tin in jail? Chung is the man who appeared in court on Friday charged with publishing an obscene article, namely a revealing picture of a film star. Chung was described as thin, wearing glasses and with a moustache, so we have something in common. The report was not very forthcoming. There are legal restrictions on the reporting of this kind of preliminary hearing.
We were told the charge, that Chung was not required to enter a plea and that the prosecution asked for an adjournment for eight weeks pending police investigation and legal advice. We were also told that when the charge was read to Chung he answered 'understand', from which we may deduce, I think, that he was not legally represented.
Reading on we discovered that Principal Magistrate Kwok Wai-kin granted the adjournment, which will keep the proceedings on ice until March 28. And then refused bail. So Chung is in prison.
This is a rather sketchy account on which to base an opinion, but the freedom of the individual from arbitrary punishment is a serious matter and it is difficult to avoid the suspicion that Chung has been sacrificed to appease an orgy of puritanical posturing over the question of filthy pictures on the internet.
Under our system, Chung is entitled - not allowed, entitled - to be regarded as innocent until proven guilty. So what is he doing in prison? Generally there are only two reasons for refusing bail. One is that the defendant may interfere with the witnesses, which hardly seems to arise here. The other is that the defendant is likely to leave the jurisdiction before trial. Well-heeled defendants with proper lawyers generally head this one off by surrendering their passports and reporting daily to the police.
The charge in this case has a maximum penalty of three years' jail. This might be worth emigrating to get away from but that is, after all, the maximum. When it comes to sentencing, Mr Kwok will need to consider the need to keep some punitive power in reserve for cases in which the miscreant actually produces the obscene article and sells it at a profit.