An elderly Hong Kong woman faces a prison term for removing electronic devices from the home of her sister, who had been arrested under the national security law.
Marilyn Tang, 63, admitting perverting the course of justice when she appeared at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court on Thursday. She was remanded in custody pending sentencing on December 21, InMedia reported. The judge said a prison sentence was unavoidable.
The defendant is the sister of Elizabeth Tang, a labour rights activist who was arrested in March over suspected foreign collusion after visiting her husband in prison.
According to the case details, Marilyn Tang entered Elizabeth Tang’s home twice on the day Elizabeth was arrested, and before police arrived there. CCTV footage showed that she stayed for 69 minutes the first time, and 41 minutes the second time, taking electronic devices with her.
She left the apartment at 4:24 pm after the second visit. Police arrived at 4:52 pm.
Tang was apprehended days later for allegedly removing evidence and charged in September, six months after her arrest, with perverting the course of justice . She was granted bail and ordered to hand over her travel documents.
Her sister Elizabeth Tang had reportedly just visited her husband Lee Cheuk-yan – a former lawmaker detained under the national security law – when she was arrested outside Stanley Prison in March. She has not been charged.
Elizabeth Tang was formerly the chief executive of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), the city’s largest pro-democracy trade union coalition that was among dozens of civil society organisations to shut down in the wake of the national security law. Marilyn Tang was an executive director of a training centre operated by the HKCTU.
Actions ‘not pre-meditated’
Representing Marilyn Tang on Wednesday, barrister Robert Pang argued that his client had been cooperative throughout the police investigation. He said Tang had committed the offence because the sister, alongside whom she spent her life, had been arrested, and was not thinking through her actions clearly.
Her behaviour was “not premeditated” and she had no plans to destroy evidence, Pang said.
The barrister added that there was no evidence that the contents of the electronic devices which were taken were directly related to the police investigation.
Judge Patrick Tsang, however, said the length of time she spent in her sister’s house and the fact that she entered twice could reflect careful planning on her part. Jail time for Tang was unavoidable, Tsang said.
In mitigation, Pang said his client’s parents died when she was young and she and her two sisters were brought up by a foster parent. Despite this, she worked hard and graduated from the University of Hong Kong in 1983, and later studied for a master’s in social work there.
Mitigation letters written by Tang’s supporters said she had spent a lifetime serving society, Pang added.
Beijing imposed a national security law in Hong Kong in June 2020 following months of protests and unrest sparked by a controversial extradition law. The legislation criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure.
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