Hong Kong protests: former lawmaker Au Nok-hin spared jail over loudspeaker assaults on police officers

Au vows to appeal against the convictions after Kowloon City magistrate sentences him to 140 hours of community work

The former pan-democrat legislator was found guilty earlier this month of two counts of assaulting a police officer at anti-government rally last year

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Au Nok-hin was sentenced at Kowloon City Court on Friday. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 5:03pm, 24 Apr 2020Updated: 11:18pm, 24 Apr 2020

An ousted lawmaker who was found guilty of assaulting two police officers with a loudhailer at an anti-government rally in Hong Kong last year was spared jail on Friday, before revealing he would appeal the convictions.

Au Nok-hin was ordered at Kowloon City Court to perform 140 hours of community work for damaging the hearing of one officer and attacking another during a stand-off between protesters and police in Mong Kok in the early hours of July 8.

The sentence allows the 32-year-old former politician to pursue a doctorate degree at Tokyo University in September, after he told Magistrate Leung Ka-kie he did not intend to run for the Legislative Council again after his unseating last year.

Outside the court, Au said he was wrongly convicted, adding: “I have decided to appeal this case … I do believe that I am not guilty.”

Au was found guilty of attacking Constable Kwan Chi-ho by hitting his shield three times using a microphone connected to the loudspeaker, when Kwan and other officers cleared the protest scene on Nathan Road near Dundas Street and Hamilton Street.