Tears in court as first Occupy leaders deliver mitigation submissions after being found guilty
- Reverend Chu Yiu-ming recounted his decades-long struggle for democracy in an emotional ‘sermon’ from the dock
- His co-defendants Benny Tai and Dr Chan Kin-man asked that Chu be spared prison
Supporters who observed the court verdict of the Occupy leaders on Tuesday sobbed as one of the movement’s three co-founders delivered an emotional submission which he called a sermon from the dock.
Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, 75, recounted in his 11-page mitigation his personal journey as an orphan turned clergyman and his decades-long struggle for democracy, hours after he was found guilty of conspiracy to cause public nuisance for his role in the 2014 civil disobedience movement.
“Today, old and grey, I find myself in the defendant’s dock, making a final plea as a convict. It looks so absurd, if not outright shameful for a person holding any office,” Chu said.
“Yet … my heart tells me that with this defendant’s dock, I have found the most honourable pulpit of my ministerial career.”
All nine key Occupy leaders were found guilty by the West Kowloon Court on Tuesday. Legal academic Benny Tai Yiu-ting and sociologist Dr Chan Kin-man, who co-founded the movement with Chu, were convicted of two offences related to public nuisance.