Hong Kong protests: media tycoon Jimmy Lai, six former opposition lawmakers have case to answer over unauthorised procession, court says

District Judge Amanda Woodcock held that prosecutors had offered sufficient evidence to prove a prima facie case against the seven, who would be required to enter a defence. They will decide whether to testify in the witness box or call their own witnesses before the trial continues on Thursday.

The preliminary ruling followed a two-week trial that centred on the unauthorised procession on Hong Kong Island on August 18, 2019.

The District Court-level trial – which is being held at West Kowloon Court to accommodate a larger audience – is the first one arising from an unauthorised assembly in which the defence contests the constitutionality of the offence. The outcome could impact cases involving five other unauthorised protests during the social unrest.

Those standing trial alongside Lai are former lawmakers Martin Lee Chu-ming, “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung, Lee Cheuk-yan, Albert Ho Chun-yan, Cyd Ho Sau-lan and Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee. Two others – former lawmakers Au Nok-hin and Leung Yiu-chung – pleaded guilty before the trial began.

Prosecutors have accused the seven of organising and taking part in the illegal march from Victoria Park in Causeway Bay to Central under the guise of a so-called water-flow assembly, a strategy to circumvent a police ban on the protest.