Democracy activist jailed over 2014 Occupy protests applies for judicial review of laws banning him from standing in Hong Kong elections for five years
- Lawyers for Raphael Wong of the League of Social Democrats say disqualification violates city’s Bill of Rights and Basic Law
- Wong was jailed for eight months after being convicted of two charges of incitement over civil disobedience movement
A Hong Kong democracy activist has applied for a judicial review challenging three laws that bar him from standing for election in the next five years because he was jailed for more than three months over the 2014 Occupy protests.
Raphael Wong Ho-ming, 30, on Wednesday filed an application to the High Court for declarations that the ordinances governing the Legislative Council, District Council and rural representative elections contain unconstitutional provisions which should be nullified.
At issue was a stipulation found in all three ordinances that disqualifies a person from being nominated to elections for five years if he or she is jailed for more than three months, regardless of whether the term has been suspended or not.
Wong, a vice-chairman of the League of Social Democrats, said his burgeoning political career is directly affected because he would consider standing for four such upcoming elections were it not for the provisions triggered by the eight-month jail term meted out to him by the District Court on April 24.
“Having settled down in prison and started to consider his future plans to stand for elections, the applicant promptly prepared this application with his legal team,” his application read.
