Contempt! "Long-haired" Leung Kwok-hung appealed in the Legislative Council snatching case, which was rejected by the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal

Source: World Wide Web

According to Hong Kong media such as Sing Tao Net, Leung Kwok-hung, a former member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council known as "Long Hair", stole documents from the then Deputy Secretary for Development Ma Shaoxiang during the November 2016 Legislative Council session and was charged with contempt of the Legislative Council. The Judge placed the case on indefinite hold on the grounds that the indictment provisions did not apply to the Prosecutions Member, and the Department of Justice had earlier appealed straight (In Hong Kong legal terms, i.e. the Court of Appeal dismissed the original judgment if it found that the original trial was wrong), the Court ordered that the case be remanded for retrial, but Leung appealed to the Court of Final Appeal against the decision. The Court of Final Appeal held a hearing today (27Th) to dismiss Leung Kwok-hung's appeal.

Leung snatched Ma's documents from the 2016 Legislative Council. (Source: Hong Kong "East Net")

According to the report, Liang Guoxiong previously filed a final appeal, and the judge issued a ruling at the end of August after listening to the statements of both parties at the Court of Final Appeal, rejecting Liang Guoxiong's appeal.

The WRITTEN Judgment of the Court of Final Appeal stated that the Legislative Council Privileges Ordinance aims to guarantee freedom of expression and freedom of debate within the Legislative Council so that members can express their views without interference, but at the same time aims to create a safe and dignified environment within the Legislative Council where the Legislative Council can perform its constitutional functions without interference or disruption.

The Court of Final Appeal held that Leung's act of snatching documents was not a statement being made, nor was he participating in any debate process on matters dealt with by the Meeting, which did not fall within the scope of speech or debate guaranteed by Articles 3 and 4 of the Legislative Council Privileges Ordinance and Article 77 of the Basic Law, but did not mean that freedom of speech and debate in the Legislative Council was restricted, and it was clarified that any conduct that was not part of any speech or debate conducted in the Legislative Council was not within the prerogatives of Section 3 of the Legislative Council Privileges Ordinance.

According to the report, the five judges of the Court of Final Appeal unanimously rejected Leung's appeal, ruling that Leung's act of snatching documents did not enjoy immunity from prosecution and that the court could exercise jurisdiction over the crimes involved.

The "Sing Tao Network" report mentioned that Liang Guoxiong was accused of conspiring to subvert state power for the so-called "35+ primary election" and has been remanded since March this year.