Hong Kong protests: six cleared of conspiracy to riot and gather illegally, after judge rules lack of evidence
- Defendants found not guilty of conspiracy charges, bringing to 24 the number of people cleared of riot-linked offences relating to 2019 social unrest
- Prosecution suffered from ‘hindsight bias’ and a lack of evidence after police raided Wan Chai flat, judge rules
The District Court found on Friday that prosecutors had made a series of flawed assumptions over the group’s intentions after police raided a Wan Chai flat on National Day that year and discovered paraphernalia commonly used at protests.
The six were on trial and jointly charged with conspiracy to take part in a riot, as well as an alternative count of conspiracy to take part in an unlawful assembly, between September 28 and October 1 in 2019. None among the group had criminal records and all denied the charges.
District Judge Sham Siu-man said while the prosecution believed the flat was used as a base to store protest equipment and for demonstrators to rest, there was not enough evidence to determine what activities the accused were engaged in before their arrest.
Officers had forced their way into the flat on the ninth floor of Yan Wo Yuet Building on Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, at about 4.50am on October 1, 2019, finding three men and two women asleep inside.