A Hong Kong man on trial for allegedly inciting others to wound with intent has told the court he made the Facebook comment about the city’s top police chief out of anger.
Chau Kin-kwok, a 53-year-old security guard, appeared at the District Court on Tuesday as the trial against him began.
According to the prosecution’s case, Chau left a comment over three years ago on a Facebook post from ex-lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting’s Facebook post, in which Lam posted the news of media mogul Jimmy Lai’s arrest.
Chau’s comment, in Chinese, read: “If we could gather tens of thousands of people to charge the police headquarters and stab [police chief] Chris Tang and other senior officers, they wouldn’t be so arrogant anymore. The only method is to use violence against violence.”
In another comment, he wrote: “Hong Kong people are too gentle. It is impossible to deal with tyranny via peaceful means, especially the Chinese Communist Party.”
At the time, Tang – now the security chief – was the city’s police commissioner. Lai is now on trial facing charges under the colonial-era sedition law and the Beijing-imposed national security law, for which he faces up to life imprisonment if convicted.
Representing himself on Tuesday, Chau told the court he received a Facebook notification about Lam’s post that day and felt that Lai’s arrest was unfair, The Witness reported. He then wrote the comments out of anger, he added.
Later, his friends informed him that pro-government supporters were attacking him over the comments he left, and advised him to delete them. Chau told the court that he was “maybe anxious and stupid,” but he could only find the option to delete his account. He then deleted his account as well as the Facebook app from his phone.
“I thought that put the matter to rest,” he added. “I thought from then on, I disappeared on Facebook and the [comments] would be gone.”
Chau was arrested five days after leaving the comments, on December 7, 2020. He admitted under police caution that the Facebook profile used to make the comments, Jimmy Chau, was his. He pleaded not guilty last March to inciting others to wound with intent.
Carrying out ‘dirty work’
The defence, which began their questioning of Chau on Tuesday, said they would not summon any witnesses during the four-day trial.
Asked whether he knew Lai, Chau said that, when he operated a logistics company, a clothing firm he worked with invited him to Christmas dinners every year between 2003 and 2006. Lai attended the dinners one year, he said, adding that he had a good impression of him.
Chau also said the logistics company – which he founded – closed in 2016 due to poor business. He then declared bankruptcy and found work as a security guard. He added that his brother passed away in 2019 and that he needed to take care of his two children.
Ahead of the trial, Chau took part in video-recorded interviews with police in which he said he believed charging Lai was a form of political persecution. He also said he thought then police-chief Tang was carrying out then-chief executive Carrie Lam’s “dirty work,” and that other senior officers were “bad people.”
The Hong Kong public’s relations with the police force worsened sharply in 2019, with officers accused of using excessive force to handle the protests and unrest sparked by a controversial extradition bill.
The demonstrations dried up amid Covid-19 and Beijing’s imposition of a national security law, which criminalised secession, subversion, foreign collusion and terrorism. Offenders face up to life in prison if convicted.
Chau’s trial will continue on Wednesday.
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