Hong Kong pro-democracy activists denied chance to appeal to top court against Covid-related conviction

Hong Kong Free Press

The activists were earlier convicted of violating a Covid group gathering ban while staging a protest on Labour Day in 2020.

Hong Kong pro-democracy activists convicted of violating Covid social distancing rules during a protest in 2020 have been denied a chance to appeal to the city’s top court.

The High Court handed down the judgement to seven members of political parties Labour Party and League of Social Democrats (LSD) on Thursday, concluding that their conviction and sentence were “proportional in the circumstances.”

The application for a certificate – required to seek permission to appeal – was submitted by LSD’s Tsang “the Bull” Kin-shing, Raphael Wong, and “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung, and the Labour Party’s Lee Cheuk-yan, Kwok Wing-kin, Stanley Ho and Mak Tak-ching last Friday.

They were among the activists who took part in a protest on Labour Day in 2020, when they formed groups of four and marched to the government’s headquarters in Admiralty.

The group was arrested on suspicion of violating a Covid-19 group gathering ban. They were convicted and handed a 14-day prison term suspended for 18 months.

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Hong Kong pro-democracy activists denied chance to appeal to top court against Covid-related conviction