The Department of Justice (DoJ) has sought to overturn former pro-democracy lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting’s acquittal on a charge of perverting the course of justice related to an incident during the 2019 protests and unrest.

Government prosecutors told the Court of Appeal on Thursday that Lam had the intent to pervert the course of justice by demanding that a person, referred to as “X,” delete photos of protesters at a march in July 2019.

The DoJ is also seeking to overturn acquittals for Lam’s co-defendants: former InMedia journalist Ronnie Tsang, 28, and social worker Aggie Chung, 39.

According to case details read out in previous hearings, Lam and Tsang were accused of committing acts with the intention to pervert the course of justice by asking X to delete from his phone photos showing the faces of protesters who might have committed criminal offences that day.

Tsang was also charged with unlawful assembly and later jailed for 13 months, while Chung was charged with access to a computer with dishonest intent and criminal damage for accessing X’s phone and deleting photos. However, Chung was later acquitted after the prosecution failed to prove dishonest intent.

Intention to pervert course of justice

Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Ivan Cheung argued on Thursday that the District Court’s January 2023 ruling that Lam had no intention to pervert the course of justice was “counterintuitive,” online news outlet The Witness reported.

Cheung presented to the court a video of the exchange, in which Lam said that “what matters now is to delete the photos with protesters’ faces.”

Although Lam verbally said that he wanted to help X leave the scene, he could also have harboured an intent to pervert the course of justice, Cheung told the three appeal judges.

X had previously testified that Lam did not force him to delete the photos and that he agreed the lawmaker was mediating the situation.

The prosecutor said the lower court erred in finding that Lam had no intent to pervert the course of justice.

However, Judge Derek Pang said on Thursday that it was impossible to conclude that Lam had that intent, while Judge Judianna Barnes said Lam’s actions did not necessarily suggest his intent.

In response to Cheung’s argument that the three defendants invited suspicion upon themselves by being present at a protest, Pang said that this was not a rioting or unlawful assembly case, adding that he could not understand how suspicion could be inferred.

Barrister Erik Shum, representing Lam, noted that the lower court found no connection between Lam’s actions and any existing or potential legal proceedings. The prosecution at trial also failed to specify any crimes or legal proceedings, he said.

Lam’s acquittal could not be overturned if the prosecution failed to prove whether he had interfered with legal proceedings or had any intention to do so, Shum said.

A Hong Kong court has ordered the forfeiture of more than HK$670,000 in “terrorist property” from three persons involved in a thwarted bomb plot during the 2019 protests.

In a written judgment on Thursday, High Court Judge Judianna Barnes ruled that Wong Chun-keung and Ng Chi-hung were “terrorists” and Lau Pui-ying was a “terrorist associate” under the United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Ordinance.

Barnes said a total sum of HK$674,860 in the defendants’ accounts and in cash, which was liable to be seized under the ordinance, was “intended to be used to finance or otherwise assist the commission of ‘terrorist acts.’”

In November 2024, Ng was sentenced to almost 24 years in jail for masterminding the foiled bomb plot, which aimed to kill police officers at a demonstration on December 8, 2019, amid the large-scale protests and unrest that year.

Wong, who led a radical group known as “Dragon Slayers,” was sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison. Both defendants pleaded guilty, with Wong testifying for the prosecution in exchange for leniency in sentencing.

Lau was among seven defendants who stood trial by jury. In August 2024, the nine-member jury found her and five others not guilty. Only one defendant was convicted by the jury and was sentenced to 10 years and 10 months behind bars.

Despite her acquittal, authorities submitted “numerous Telegram messages” that showed Lau “actively administered, together with [Wong], crowd-funding exercise in securing funds” for Dragon Slayers and the bomb plot, according to the judgment on Thursday.

Between November 6 and December 9, 2019, Lau’s three accounts received net deposits of more than HK$1 million while she was earning a salary of less than HK$3,000, the government submitted.

Barnes said the evidence “overwhelmingly supported” the government’s application to forfeit the sum.

Roughly HK$536,000 was kept in Lau’s three accounts, according to the judgment, while the remainder, around HK$138,000, consisted of deposits in Wong and Ng’s bank accounts, as well as cash.

Wong and Ng did not oppose the application while Lau was absent throughout the proceedings, including court notices and a hearing regarding the government’s application.

The anti-terrorism ordinance, enacted in 2002, was invoked for the first time to prosecute the group.

The defendants were accused of planning a bomb attack during a rally marking International Human Rights Day, plotting to place two bombs along the rally’s marching route to kill police officers.