Seven Hong Kong police officers were charged Thursday with assaulting a pro-democracy protester in a beating captured on video – but the victim is also now facing arrest in the heavily criticised case.
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The Department of Justice said in statement that Tsang splashed liquid on police near government headquarters, then resisted arrest, and that those officers were different from those charged.
October 19), so that the parties in both cases may have the opportunity to address the court, should they or their legal representatives see fit to do so, on any matters they think relevant and appropriate.
The seven officers were charged jointly with one count of grievous bodily harm and one also was charged with common assault, a police spokeswoman said, providing the information on condition of anonymity following office practice.
She would not give the names of the officers who were released on bail and will appear in court on Monday. There would be no plea and the prosecution would apply to have the case transferred to the District Court for trial.
The South China Morning Post reported that the officers accused of beating Ken Tsang Kin-chiu during the Occupy protests a year ago were being tried for the offense.
Last year’s incident took place during mass pro-democracy demonstrations and sit-ins that drew tens of thousands at their peak and paralysed Hong Kong’s streets for more than two months.
“This is a kind of political pressure”, Tsang told reporters before entering the police station on Thursday.
“The whole point, if I may emphasise, is to ensure procedural fairness between Tsang on the one hand, and the seven police officers on the other”, Yuen said.
In the case of Mr Tsang, he was charged with one count of assaulting police officers in the due execution of their duties and four counts of resisting a police officer in the due execution of his duty, all contrary to section 36(b) of the Offences against the Person Ordinance, Cap 212 (OAPO).
“All this should not be happening one year later…”
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Tsang was granted permission in July for a judicial review challenging the decision not to identify his assailants.
