Lawyer of Indonesian journalist shot in the eye mulls legal action against Hong Kong police over ‘failure’ to bring guilty to book

Journalist Veby Mega Indah’s lawyer Michael Vidler says police have failed to confirm the arrest of the officer who shot a projectile that injured her

He will press the High Court to force the police commissioner to reveal the identity of the officer, so that a private prosecution can be laid

Reading Time:3 minutes

Indonesian journalist Veby Mega Indah was shot in the face by a riot police officer while covering anti-government protests in Hong Kong. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:46pm, 12 Oct 2019Updated: 10:09am, 13 Oct 2019

The lawyer for an Indonesian journalist who was shot in the eye while covering an anti-government protest two weeks ago on Saturday vowed to take legal action against the force, saying little had been done to bring the guilty to book.

Veby Mega Indah, a 39-year-old associate editor with Suara Hong Kong News, was hit by what her lawyer believes to be a rubber bullet when she was covering the city’s ongoing unrest on September 29 clothed in full press gear.

In a statement on Saturday, her lawyer Michael Vidler said it had almost been a fortnight since a criminal complaint was filed on behalf of Veby, who has permanently lost the sight in her right eye following the injury.

“Regrettably, police have not confirmed the arrest of the perpetrator, though we have provided them with ample evidence of how and in what circumstances Veby received the injury, and what the perpetrator, an officer, looked like,” he said.

Lawyer Michael Vidler plans to file applications in the High Court. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Vidler added that the police commissioner had also failed to confirm whether the officer involved had been suspended.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x