Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung continue to argue for acquittal in their subversion trial…
Defence counsel Erik Shum, representing Lee, told the court on Wednesday that the prosecution must establish that calling for an end to one-party rule is tantamount to toppling or undermining the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) leadership.
For 30 years, the Alliance’s call for ending one-party rule was intertwined with its advocacy for democratisation in China, Shum said, adding that China could become a democracy in the future through further constitutional amendment.
“Even if the prosecution can prove that ending one-party rule means ending the CCP’s leadership, it does not automatically become overthrowing or undermining its leadership,” he said. “This is a quantum leap.”
He also argued that China’s top state organs, including the National People’s Congress, could still operate without the CCP’s leadership.
…Chow, a barrister representing herself in the trial, argued that the court must consider human rights protections when reviewing whether the Alliance had incited others to commit subversion.
The Alliance’s slogans fell within a Chinese citizen’s legitimate demand for choosing the country’s leadership, she told the court.
“This is a goal which every Chinese national has the right to pursue,” she said. “The prosecution is trying to make this goal an unspeakable, unthinkable, and forbidden one, but they cannot provide any legal basis.”
In response, prosecutor Ned Lai argued that even a future constitutional amendment cannot change China’s fundamental socialist system under the CCP’s leadership.
How can an abstract idea be – as Chow puts it – ‘unspeakable, unthinkable, and forbidden’? How can merely calling for a change in the constitution be illegal?
Valiant Immigration Dept sleuths arrest 20 people in a crackdown on (presumably Filipino or Indonesian) foreign domestic helpers. Among them are…
…two domestic workers and one visitor … in Central during [a] sweep of footbridges and tunnels on Sunday, a day when most domestic workers are on their weekly day off.
Fu Chit-ho, a senior immigration officer, said that the three were suspected of setting up cardboard stalls or tents to provide massages and manicure services to other domestic workers, Ming Pao reported.
Sweep of footbridges and tunnels keeps city safe from cardboard stall menace! They were charging HK$50, and the customers would be other helpers – a sight familiar to anyone who lives in Hong Kong. Now the taxpayer pays for their incarceration, their employers are massively inconvenienced – and the women themselves subject to a harrowing experience presumably culminating in deportation. Meanwhile, feel free to park your SUV on a pedestrian crossing anytime you want.
In a similar absurd vein, police arrest a man for using an electric bike – perfectly normal and legal in most cities in the world…
Officers on patrol spotted the man riding an electric mobile tool on a road and stopped him for inspection. Following a preliminary investigation, the man was arrested on four charges: “driving an unregistered vehicle,” “driving without a valid driving license,” “using a vehicle without third-party insurance,” and “riding without an approved protective helmet.”
…Police reiterated that electric mobile tools are not suitable for use on roads, pavements, or cycle tracks alongside regular vehicles…
Cheung Chau has no cars or trucks.