Hong Kong riot charges pushed ahead in unprecedented hardline move as justice chief forgoes usual written advice

Teresa Cheng opted to give police verbal assent on prosecutions, which could end in 10-year sentences for 44 people

Move seen as seeking to deter further protests, amid allegations from prosecutors that political considerations are involved

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Some people involved in the July 28 clashes face riot charges. Photo: Edmond So

Published: 4:06pm, 1 Aug 2019Updated: 11:41pm, 1 Aug 2019

Hong Kong’s justice secretary gave a verbal agreement rather than conventional written advice to police to charge protesters with rioting this week, the Post has learned, in a move viewed as eagerness to “fast-track” prosecutions and send a deterrent message to demonstrators.

Two legal sources also said Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah signed off on using the riot offence as a holding charge, instead of prosecuting the accused on a lesser charge of unlawful assembly, for which they were initially arrested.

Revelations of the unprecedented hardline moves came after a group of anonymous prosecutors issued an open letter on Wednesday accusing Cheng of applying political considerations to prosecution decisions. Her spokesman swiftly dismissed the accusations as groundless.

But despite the rioting charge being laid against 44 protesters – the first such batch to face the prospect of up to 10 years in jail if found guilty – the city was bracing itself for a ninth consecutive weekend of multiple demonstrations, to be bookended by a Friday rally of an estimated 2,000 civil servants and a planned citywide strike on Monday.

Sources said Teresa Cheng had directed that all prosecutions relating to recent protests must be cleared by her. Photo: Wilson Wong

On the eve of the civil servants’ protest, the government issued a stern warning that those who flouted the rules of political neutrality and loyalty to the administration would face consequences. It was “totally unacceptable” for civil servants to compromise themselves politically, it said, signalling that actions such as penning anonymous open letters or taking part in strikes or assemblies would divide the service and damage public confidence in it.

The prosecutions of the 44, who were arrested at Sunday’s protests, and the anonymous open letter also sparked debate within the legal fraternity, with some asking why the cases were prioritised over those of the white-shirted perpetrators of the shocking violence in Yuen Long a week earlier.