Hong Kong national security police have arrested a man on suspicion of helping four protesters charged with offences linked to the 2019 unrest to flee the city.
Police apprehended Yu Hin-lam on Thursday over perverting the course of justice, according to a statement by the police force on Friday.
Yu, a 26-year-old taxi driver, was accused of aiding the escape attempt of Tsang Chi-kin, Fung Ching-wah, Ansen Wong and Alex Wong, local media reported.
The four were arrested themselves in July 2022 for allegedly perverting the course of justice, when police stopped them in Sai Kung as they were about to escape to Taiwan by boat. They faced charges related to the protests and unrest in 2019 and had spent two years hiding in safehouses.
One of the four, Tsang, had been in the news before. He was shot by police with a live round during a protest in Tsuen Wan on October 1, 2019, when the city saw widespread demonstrations to “mourn” National Day amid protests sparked by the controversial amendment to the city’s extradition bill. After that, he was arrested and charged with rioting and assaulting a police officer.
Yu appeared at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on Saturday. The prosecution applied to adjourn the case for police to conduct further investigations, including checking his electronic devices and bank records, The Witness reported.
Magistrate Jeffrey Sze denied Yu bail. The defendant will next appear in court on May 6.
Perverting the course of justice does not have a maximum punishment, with the courts given discretion to impose any imprisonment term or fine depending on the severity of the offence. Cases heard at District Court carry a maximum jail sentence of seven years.
Failed escape
News that four protest fugitives had hidden in safehouses for two years ahead of their planned escape made local headlines in July 2022.
Police officers said the four were shuttled via cardboard boxes between safehouses, most recently to a windowless unit in an industrial building in Tsuen Wan. A group supported them with money raised via a foreign crowdfunding site, police said, but added they had stopped giving them food or paying rent.
The four were skinny, with long and unkempt hair and in a “poor mental condition” when arrested, police said.
All four of them were jailed for their protest-related offences and perverting the course of justice in 2023.
Separately, a fifth man – Yip Ho – was arrested in July 2022 for allegedly providing assistance to the four. He was accused of transferring them between locations ahead of the escape attempt.
Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.”
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