Hong Kong justice department hires Queen’s Counsel David Perry to prosecute protest case against Jimmy Lai, eight others
- Perry has tackled a raft of high-profile cases in the city over the past decade, including the bribery trial of Donald Tsang and that of the ‘milkshake murderer’
- Case’s complexity and ‘real and significant impact’ on freedom of assembly justifies special arrangement, rules High Court Chief Judge Jeremy Poon
A British Queen’s Counsel who once handled the bribery trial of a former Hong Kong chief executive has been hired by the justice department to now go after media mogul Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and eight opposition figures for their roles in a 2019 anti-government protest.
The Court of First Instance on Tuesday granted the Department of Justice’s application to fly in David Perry QC to handle the case, noting not only its complexity but its “real and significant impact on the exercise of the freedom of assembly in the future”.
The case against the nine centres on an anti-government protest in Causeway Bay on August 18, 2019. Prosecutors have argued protesters disregarded the objection by police that day to turn an approved assembly inside Victoria Park into a march to Central, which was not permitted.
Among the other defendants are “Father of Democracy” Martin Lee Chu-ming, annual Tiananmen Square vigil organiser Lee Cheuk-yan and veteran activist “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung.
All nine were charged jointly with two offences: organising an unauthorised assembly and knowingly taking part in an unauthorised assembly. The trial has been set for February 16.