Social News
Written by: Lin Leer
2020-12-11 12:30
Last update date: 2020-12-11 13:01
Former "Student Action" convener Zhong Hanlin, in May last year, protested at the Legislative Council demonstration area on the amendments to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance. During the quarrel with members of the pro-China group "Defense Hong Kong Movement", he was accused of destroying the other's five-star flag. .
He was later charged with insulting the national flag and illegal assembly and was tried earlier.
Magistrate Huang Ya-yin said at the Eastern Magistracy today (11th) that it was impossible to know that it was the national flag, and ruled that he was guilty of both crimes, and adjourned the case to the 29th of this month and sentenced him to wait for multiple reports. Sentenced.
Chung was still awaiting sentence and was taken to the front line: "Hong Kong people hold on!"
The defendant Zhong Hanlin (student, 19 years old) was charged with one count of insulting the national flag and one count of illegal assembly.
The charge alleges that he publicly and deliberately defiled or insulted the national flag without legal excuse and participated in an illegal assembly in a designated demonstration area in the Legislative Council Complex on May 14, 2019.
The defendant Zhong Hanlin was accused of destroying a five-star flag and charged with insulting the national flag.
(Profile picture)
Zhong said that someone passed him a stick wrapped in red cloth
Zhong Hanlin earlier argued that a woman was robbed of a rucksack on that day. During Zhong's questioning, someone waved the stick that should be wrapped in red cloth. In the chaos, the stick became buckled for some reason, and somebody later took the stick. Pass it to him with a broken stick.
Zhong said that someone at the scene shouted "beating people," thinking that the flagpole would be dangerous and would be taken away for safety.
He didn't want to be accused of stealing, so he retreated to the crowd and threw the stick away.
Emphasize that I don’t know that is the Five-Star
Zhong claimed that someone had waved flags of different colors, stressing that he did not know that it was a five-star flag at the time, and denied that the flag was thrown away to vent his anger. The video also showed that he left the flagpole and ignored it.
During the whole process, no security or police asked them to leave. Zhong did not know that the passageway he was in was not a designated demonstration area.
The officer thought that the defendant could not know that it was the national flag
The Magistrate Huang Yayin pointed out that the five yellow stars on the flag were unfolded, and the defendant could not have known that it was a national flag.
The court refused to be satisfied that the defendant took the national flag to prevent the opponent’s camp from attacking others with a stick. It believed that taking and throwing high the flag was a defilement of the national flag. In addition, the defendant later committed an act of disrupting order and convicted both guilt.
Case Number: ESCC2544/2019
Zhong Hanlin is also involved in another case. (See the picture below for details)
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Zhong Hanlin Flag Court