Hong Kong protests: prosecutors urge court to proceed with trial of student in her absence, after she fled city following arrest, but judge questions fairness

Hong Kong prosecutors have asked a court to proceed with the trial of a university student in her absence, after she fled the city following her arrest in a 2019 anti-government protest, but the presiding judge has questioned if this will violate the defendant’s right to a fair proceeding.

The prosecution on Tuesday requested that the District Court determine Wong Ting-tao’s involvement in a violent stand-off between protesters and police at Chinese University (CUHK) on November 12, 2019, at a trial of four other tertiary students facing rioting charges over the same incident.

The court heard the CUHK student had not been prosecuted but was put on police’s wanted list, as she absconded hours after she was released on bail on November 14 that year.

Prosecuting counsel-on-fiat Adonis Cheung Kam-wing suggested the court could still make factual findings concerning Wong’s participation in the riot, as it would not prejudice the four defendants in the present proceedings.

But Judge Clement Lee Hing-nin expressed reservation over the idea, saying he feared it would interfere with Wong’s right to a fair trial, protected by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as applied in Hong Kong via the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law.

The covenant stipulates that in the determination of any criminal charge, the accused shall be entitled to stand trial.