{"id":71003,"date":"2017-02-18T07:46:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-18T07:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/127.0.0.1:10081\/?p=71003 "},"modified":"2017-02-18T07:46:00","modified_gmt":"2017-02-18T07:46:00","slug":"71003-revision-v1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/?p=71003","title":{"rendered":"Seven Hong Kong Policemen Jailed For Beating of Democracy Activist Ken Tsang"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">2017-02-17<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p><div>&nbsp;<\/div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/mzzg.org\/UploadCenter\/ArticlePics\/2017\/7\/2017217a944cb51-becc-49ff-b3ce-500c9a466197.jpeg\" alt=\"2017217a944cb51-becc-49ff-b3ce-500c9a466197.jpeg (622&#215;388)\" \/><br \/><div>&nbsp;<\/div>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Van carrying seven Hong  Kong police officers found guilty of assaulting pro-democracy politician Ken Tsang during the 2014 Occupy Central pro-democracy movement heads to the city&#8217;s detention center, Feb. 17, 2017.<\/span><\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&nbsp;RFA<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">A court in Hong Kong on Friday jailed seven police officers guilty of assaulting pro-democracy politician Ken Tsang during the 2014 Occupy Central pro-democracy movement for two years apiece.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Chief Inspector Wong Cho-shing, Senior Inspector Lau Cheuk-ngai, Detective Sergeant Pak Wing-bun, police constable Lau Hing-pui, and detective constables Wong Wai-ho and Kwan Ka-ho were convicted by the city&#8217;s District Court on Tuesday of kicking, punching, and stepping on Tsang after he was arrested and handcuffed during clashes in October 2014.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Detective constable Chan Siu-tan was given an additional month for common assault, for slapping Tsang twice at Central Police Station.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">While the seven were found guilty of common assault and causing actual bodily harm, they were acquitted of the more serious charge of causing grievous bodily harm.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Crowds of rival supporters faced off outside the court buildings as the sentences were passed, with some shouting &#8220;We support the police upholding the law!&#8221; and &#8220;Serious punishment for the organizers of Occupy Central!&#8221;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Judge David Dufton said it was appropriate that the seven should serve time in prison, as they had &#8220;not only brought dishonor to the Hong Kong Police Force, they have also damaged Hong Kong&#8217;s reputation in the international community, the assault having been widely viewed around the world and reported as front-page news in a number of countries.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Tsang welcomed the sentences, telling reporters on Friday: &#8220;I have waited more than two years for this, which is a very small victory for civil society in its struggle against police brutality.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;But I hope people will continue the struggle for universal suffrage,&#8221; he said in a reference to the main goal of the Occupy Central movement.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">He called for a number of other cases involving allegations of police brutality to be brought to justice.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">The sentencing was rapidly criticized by police unions and a pro-Beijing lawmaker, who called Dufton a &#8220;white-skinned judge with a yellow heart,&#8221; in a reference to the yellow umbrellas of the 2014 pro-democracy movement.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">The defense had argued for suspended sentences, saying they had received more than a thousand letters pleading for leniency and citing the officers&#8217; previous record and the &#8220;unique circumstances&#8221; of the Occupy Central civil disobedience movement.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">However, Judge Dufton said stress was still no justification for the assault on Tsang, saying the assault was vicious, and could have resulted in much more serious injuries.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;The defendants, serving police officers who in the execution of their duty took Tsang to the substation to assault him; the multiplicity of the injuries sustained by Tsang as a result of the assault; and the damage to Hong Kong&#8217;s reputation make this, in my view, a very serious case,&#8221; the judge said.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">At least two of the officers are considering appealing their sentence, government broadcaster RTHK reported.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Wong&#8217;s defense attorney Lawrence Lok told reporters his client would definitely be appealing against his conviction, however.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;I haven&#8217;t had chance to discuss it yet, but we will definitely be appealing the conviction,&#8221; Lok said.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">The seven policemen were filmed by news media as they kicked and punched him in a dimly lit corner of Tamar Park in the early hours of October 15, 2014.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">The attack left Tsang, a social worker and former member of the pro-democracy Civic Party, with injuries to his face, neck, chest and back.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Joe Chan, who heads the Junior Police Officers&#8217; Association, said many in the union are &#8220;struggling to accept&#8221; the ruling.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">He said the union would collect funds to assist the officers, and said some of his colleagues wanted to stage a protest over the sentencing.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;I feel proud to be a police officer,&#8221; Chan told journalists.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Police Commissioner Stephen Lo said had &#8220;mixed feelings and a heavy heart&#8221; over the sentencing.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Meanwhile, pro-Beijing members of the city&#8217;s Legislative Council (LegCo) said the sentences were too heavy.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Pro-Beijing legislator Wong Kwok-kin said the sentences were the result of a &#8220;white-skinned&#8221; judge having a &#8220;yellow heart.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">A group of supporters of the seven police officers said they planned to demonstrate against their sentences on Saturday.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">But Tsang supporter Lei Yuk-luen said the sentences were appropriate.<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;The judge got the sentencing right, and the seven police officers will go to jail,&#8221; Lei said. &#8220;Everyone is equal before the law, right?&#8221;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;If the judge hadn&#8217;t done this, then that would be wrong.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p>  <p>&nbsp;<\/p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rfa.org\/english\/news\/china\/hongkong-police-02172017144350.html\"><p><br \/><\/p>  <p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">For detail please visit here<\/span><\/p><\/a><p>&nbsp;<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&lt;div&gt;Chief Inspector Wong Cho-shing, Senior Inspector Lau Cheuk-ngai, Detective Sergeant Pak Wing-bun, police constable Lau Hing-pui, and detective constables Wong Wai-ho and Kwan Ka-ho were convicted by the city&#39;s District Court on Tuesday of kicking, punching, and stepping on Tsang after he was arrested and handcuffed during clashes in October 2014.&lt;\/div&gt;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ChinaHumanRights","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=71003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71003\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}