Hong Kong’s largest opposition party, the pro-democracy Democratic Party, has vowed to continue to serve Hong Kong people despite the jailing of three of its members, the group has said.
Former legislative councillors Andrew Wan, Helena Wong, and Lam Cheuk-ting were sentenced on Tuesday in cases linked to scuffles in Legislative Council (LegCo) meetings held between 2018 and 2020.
Wan and Lam pleaded guilty to obstructing LegCo officers in a 2018 meeting about the controversial joint checkpoint plan for the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, and were sentenced to two weeks and three weeks in prison, respectively, the Witness reported.
Wan also pleaded guilty to putting more than one ballot in the ballot box during a chairperson election for the Panel on Environmental Affairs on October 16, 2020, for which he was handed a two-week prison term.
The lawmaker also faced a third charge of contempt under the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance, over a House Committee meeting in 2020, and was handed another three-week jail term. Wong was sentenced to two weeks in jail in the same case.
Wong also pleaded guilty to disrupting a LegCo meeting on October 15, 2020, and was sentenced to two weeks in jail.
Principal Magistrate Peter Law ordered all sentences to be served consecutively, as the incidents took place on different dates and the meetings covered different topics, and hence were “individual incidents,” InMedia reported.
Wan was sentenced to a total of seven weeks in prison, while Wong was handed a four-week jail term, and Lam a three-week prison term.
In a statement released after the trio’s sentencing on Wednesday, the Democratic Party said it would provide the “necessary support” to the defendants’ families.
“The Democratic Party will speak up for Hong Kong citizens resolutely without humbling ourselves or showing disrespect,” the party’s statement read. “[We] will continue to serve citizens with the premise of Hong Kong people’s interests.”
The trio was also among the 47 democrats charged under the Beijing-imposed national security law over unofficial primary elections for the 2020 LegCo election, which was later postponed. Wong was the only one of the trio who was granted bail in the case.
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