Hong Kong protests: final appeal granted to journalist found guilty of breaching law over vehicle registry search
- Bao Choy, 39, was prosecuted over her use of the Transport Department’s database while making documentary on police’s response to 2019 Yuen Long mob attack
- Panel of top judges rules case involves significant legal point and might entail ‘substantial and grave injustice’
A freelance producer found guilty of breaching the law over a search performed on the Hong Kong government’s vehicle registry will be allowed a final appeal against her conviction, the city’s top court has ruled.
The Court of Final Appeal on Tuesday agreed to arrange a full panel of five judges to hear Bao Choy Yuk-ling’s complaints after finding that her case not only involved legal points of great and general importance, but might also be one that entailed “substantial and grave injustice”.
Mr Justice Roberto Ribeiro, who spoke on behalf of the court’s appeal committee, said the questions raised in the high-profile case were significant and deserved closer scrutiny.
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“We accept this is a case where leave [to appeal] should be granted,” he said without explaining further. The other committee members were justices Johnson Lam Man-hon and Joseph Fok.
The substantive appeal will be heard on May 3.
The Court of First Instance in November upheld a magistrate’s decision to sentence Choy to a HK$6,000 (US$768) fine on charges of knowingly making false statements to the Transport Department.
The 39-year-old was prosecuted over her use of the department’s car registration database while making a documentary investigating police’s response to a mob attack during the 2019 anti-government protests.
She had cited “traffic and transport-related matters” as her reason for accessing the department’s online database. It was one of only three options available to users looking for information, the others being “legal proceedings” and the “sale and purchase of vehicles”. Journalism was not an option.
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Principal Magistrate Ivy Chui Yee-mei found Choy guilty by rejecting journalism as justification for searching the official records, a ruling which sparked concerns about the stifling of press freedom, with critics saying the government was already tightening access to information.
Mr Justice Alex Lee Wan-tang, of the lower appellate court, upheld the magistrate’s ruling after finding the personal data in the registry was never intended to be used for journalistic purposes.
But he endorsed Choy’s bid to take her grievance to the Court of Final Appeal by highlighting a legal point of great and general importance, centred on whether the transport commissioner was obliged to provide information requested by anyone making an application for data in the vehicle registry.
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On Tuesday, prosecutor Derek Lau Tak-wai contended that Choy’s case was not reasonably arguable as the “clear” legislative intent behind the establishment of the database was merely to facilitate transport-related activities.
He said Choy had also failed to show the magistrate’s findings constituted a serious departure from accepted legal principles.
The appeal committee sided with Choy after hearing the prosecutor’s submission.
On top of the question posed by the lower appellate court, the top judges also agreed to examine two other points of contention raised by Choy, including whether an investigative journalist tracking down someone believed to have committed an offence not related to transport could be deemed a transport-related matter.
Choy said outside the court that a major dispute would be whether she had intentionally transgressed the law, adding her case involved substantial public interest and its outcome would have significant bearing on media operations.
“Justice will prevail,” she said.
The documentary, released by RTHK a year after the incident, revealed details about the mob attack on July 21, 2019, when white-clad men stormed Yuen Long MTR station and 45 people were injured.
