Hong Kong legislature president Jasper Tsang to testify for defence over protesters’ intrusion

Legislative Council Commission chairman Jasper Tsang Yok-sing yesterday affirmed to a court that he would tell the truth and refrain from seeking legal advice while giving testimony in a trial that features the head of Hong Kong's legislature for the first time since the handover.

It was revealed earlier at Eastern Court that Tsang would be summoned to testify in a trial involving a dozen protesters accused of taking part in an illegal assembly outside the Legco complex in Admiralty last June.

The group allegedly took part in the protest against the government's northeastern New Territories new-town plan and forcibly entered the complex on June 13 last year.

Testifying for the first time yesterday, Tsang pledged to tell "the truth and the whole truth" when defence counsel Douglas Kwok King-hin summoned him as a defence witness.

Kwok asked Tsang: "Will you seek legal advice while you're giving evidence?" He reminded Tsang that court witnesses are not supposed to discuss their evidence with others until their testimony finishes. "I don't see the need to," Tsang replied.

"So you'll be able to assure three things: to tell the truth, the whole truth and not to lie?" Kwok asked.

"Correct," Tsang answered.