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Pan-democrats win appeal in Citizens' Radio case

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Citizens' Radio activists Bull Tsang Kin-shing, Lo Chau and Albert Chan Wai-yip rally in support of lawmakers' appeal case outside the Court of Final Appeal last month. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

Five prominent pan-democrat lawmakers won an appeal, on Tuesday morning, against their conviction for speaking on an unlicensed radio station in 2008.

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Four of the five judges on the Court of Final Appeal panel ruled in favour of the appellants – lawmakers Wong Yuk-man, Emily Lau Wai-hing, Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Chan Wai-yip, and former lawmaker Lee Wing-tat.

The legislators were prosecuted after speaking as guests on a Citizens’ Radio discussion in Sai Yeung Choi Street South, in Mongkok, on April 20, 2008.

They made the broadcast to challenge the constitutionality of the 75-year-old Telecommunications Ordinance, which forbids the transmission or receipt of a message over an unlicensed means of telecommunication.

Chief Magistrate Tong Man fined the lawmakers in 2009, and Court of First Instance judge Madam Justice Maggie Poon Man-kay turned down their appeal in August this year.

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After learning of Tuesday’s judgment, People Power legislator Chan said the government should make the airwaves more accessible for those who want to broadcast.

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