Hong Kong social worker Jackie Chen has been found guilty of rioting during a protest in 2019, following a retrial that came after the government appealed against her 2020 acquittal.
Deputy District Judge May Chung announced the guilty verdict on Tuesday afternoon, seconds after taking her seat at the bench. She said she had written down her reasons for the verdict and would adjourn the hearing for 20 to 30 minutes to allow the defence and the prosecution to read them.
Chen’s supporters in the public gallery yelled: “We’ll come visit you” and “Hang in there,” as the social worker took off her earrings, rings, bracelet, and necklace and handed them to a relative through a gap in the defendant’s dock.
Chen, 48, looked up to the public gallery and said, “[I’m] OK! Don’t worry. Take care of yourselves!”
Her family members, seated in the first row of the public gallery, were seen comforting each other.
Judge Chung said that the court would reconvene on April 3 for mitigation, and on April 9 for sentencing.
‘Fictitious’ allegations about police
Chen pleaded not guilty last December to one count of rioting in relation to a protest on August 31, 2019. That day, demonstrators set up roadblocks in Wan Chai and Admiralty, clashing with police officers who deployed tear gas and water cannons to disperse them.
Chen, who was arrested near the intersection of Hennessy Road and Marsh Road at around 8.20pm on suspicion of taking part in an illegal assembly, did not testify in the trial or call witnesses. Representing Chen, barrister Hector Pun argued that the social worker was speaking through a loudspeaker to police and asking them to act with restraint.
In her “reasons for verdict” judgement uploaded online, Chung said Chen made “fictitious” allegations about police enforcement when she spoke through a loudspeaker and urged officers to act with restraint in dispersing protesters.
Chung highlighted certain things that Chen said, such as telling police not to carry out a “big chase and killing” and give time for people to disperse.
The judge said that at that point, police were not advancing and that there was “clearly no big chase or killing.” Even when police were advancing, their method and pace could “absolutely not” be described as such, Chung wrote. She added that it was also untrue of Chen to say there were still a lot of people on the street.
Chen’s continuous shouting “continuously implied or accused the police’s dispersal operation and advancement of being overly quick or violent,” Chung wrote in Chinese. “Such content was unfair and extremely provocative. It also clearly roused the emotions of those gathered to be more hostile to police.”
The judge also quoted Chen telling police that there was “no threat to their lives” and “no danger” at the moment, so they should not fire tear gas or other means of force like beanbag and rubber bullets.
Her accusations “did not reflect the truth,” Chung wrote, adding that at the time, protesters were still throwing petrol bombs and hard objects at police.
Chen “clearly knew what the situation was, yet she was still implying that police were acting in an inappropriate, unrestrained and violent manner to disperse protesters,” Chung added.
The judge said the clips of the protest played in court did not show Chen calling on protesters to cease their violent behaviour and leave. Chen was supporting protesters in the name of a social worker “safeguarding justice,” Chung wrote, and her words and actions showed she agreed with the protesters’ behaviour.
“She stood on the same side as the protesters and acted together, supporting and backing them, and strengthening… their determination and confidence in confronting the police,” Chung wrote.
Greeted by supporters
Chen, who had cut her hair short, arrived at District Court at around 1.20pm, more than an hour before the hearing was set to begin. By then, dozens of her supporters were already in line waiting for public gallery tickets.
After getting their tickets, they went outside for a group photo with Chen. Some of the supporters hugged Chen as journalists surrounded them to take pictures.
A member of the Battlefield Social Worker group, Chen was frequently seen on the frontlines of protests in 2019 when she volunteered to monitor police behaviour. She sought to liaise between protesters and the police force and provide emotional support during demonstrations, often speaking to officers through a loudspeaker and telling them not to deploy tear gas against reporters and residents without protective gear.
During the trial, the defence submitted five letters from character witnesses – people who can testify to the good character of a defendant – to present their case.
Three of the letters were written by colleagues, one was written by an ex-teacher, and another was written by a friend she did overseas volunteer work with.
Rioting is punishable by up to 10 years in jail, though sentences handed down at the District Court are capped at seven years.
Acquitted in September 2020
Chen was acquitted midway through her trial in September 2020, when the judge said her conduct and speech did not amount to taking part in an unlawful assembly, let alone a riot.
The seven defendants in the case, who like her pleaded not guilty, were also acquitted at the end of the trial. But the government appealed against all the acquittals, with the Court of Appeal allowing the challenge. Nevertheless, the government was forced to drop its challenge against some defendants because they had left Hong Kong.
Lai Pui-ki, Chung Ka-nang, and Jason Gung – who are still in the city – changed their pleas to guilty in September. They have been remanded since.
The three will be sentenced after Chen’s trial ends. Chen applied to the Court of Appeal to challenge the lower court’s decision to allow a retrial, but was rejected.
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.”
