Hong Kong 47: lawyer wins appeal against jail term for obstructing police amid high-profile court case

Leo Yau had been convicted of obstructing police after ignoring request to show credentials outside West Kowloon Court in 2021 amid national security hearing

High Court substitutes seven-day sentence imposed on Yau with 160-hour community service order, but wilful obstruction conviction still stands

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A judge ruled that lawyer Leo Yau had admitted to “reckless” behaviour but not to deliberately breaking the law. Photo: Brian Wong

Published: 4:22pm, 12 Jan 2024Updated: 9:51pm, 12 Jan 2024

A lawyer in Hong Kong has won an appeal against his jail sentence for obstructing a police officer outside a court three years ago, when a national security case was being heard.

The High Court on Friday substituted the seven-day sentence imposed on Leo Yau Lut-pong with a 160-hour community service order, after finding the trial magistrate had rejected his plea for leniency based on the wrong application of the law.

A separate appeal against his conviction on the charge of wilful obstruction was dismissed.

The 37-year-old lawyer from Bond Ng Solicitors ignored a police sergeant’s request to show his identity card and legal credentials after he was intercepted outside West Kowloon Court in Cheung Sha Wan on the night of March 1, 2021.

Yau had represented some of the 47 opposition politicians and activists charged with conspiracy to subvert state power under the Beijing-imposed national security law in relation to an unofficial legislative primary election in July 2020.

The March 1 marathon hearing, where the 47 appeared in court for the first time, ran from the afternoon until the early hours of the next day after four of the accused were sent to hospital due to fatigue.

Police cordoned off the court’s entrance in the evening and only allowed those related to the case to pass through.