- Prosecutors want another tool to charge people with rioting or joining an illegal assembly even if they were not physically present
- But the top justices have pushed back, saying existing offences such as taking part in a conspiracy or aiding and abetting provide are sufficient
Prosecutors grilled by Hong Kong’s top court have conceded no lacuna in the law existed that required invoking a legal principle to go after culprits who contributed to unlawful assemblies and riots without being present at the scene.
The Court of Final Appeal on Tuesday heard a landmark challenge over the common law doctrine of joint enterprise, which arose from two separate cases stemming from major riots that rocked the city in recent years.
The first appeal was mounted by 34-year-old Lo Kin-man, who is seeking to overturn his conviction after being jailed for seven years in 2018 for rioting during the overnight unrest in Mong Kok that began on February 8, 2016.
Read more at https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3151293/appeal-case-hong-kongs-top-court-decide-how-law
