Legal status of Hong Kong Alliance in question: Court

A magistrate presiding over a national security case involving the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China has questioned whether the group can still represent itself in court after officials struck it off the Companies Register earlier this week.

Principal magistrate Peter Law likened it to prosecuting “a dead person” while acknowledging he wasn’t sure it was a correct analogy.

The Alliance and three of its leaders – Lee Cheuk-yan, Albert Ho and Chow Hang-tung – are accused of inciting subversion of state power between July last year and September this year.

At a hearing on Thursday, Law asked the prosecution to clarify the Alliance’s legal status, noting that it had been struck off the Companies Register by the Chief Executive-in-Council on Tuesday.

He said the court had difficulty dealing with what he called an unprecedented situation.

In response, the prosecution said according to existing laws, the Alliance was no longer in existence once it was struck off the Companies Register.

It said all of its properties now belong to the Official Receiver.

The prosecution also said more time is needed for the Official Receiver’s Office to look into the Alliance’s legal status.

Law agreed to leave the matter aside for the time being, and ordered that one of the Alliance’s leaders, Richard Tsoi, who had indicated his wish to represent the group, be listed as an interested person.

The magistrate approved the prosecution’s request to adjourn the hearing to January 10 next year, to allow more time for the police to carry out their investigation.

But he also ordered that the prosecution submit progress of the police investigation by December 20 to keep the defendants informed.

Chow had objected to the prosecution’s request to adjourn the hearing, saying it was unreasonable that she and other defendants had to be detained while police were still gathering evidence.

The magistrate declined to grant bail to Chow. He also rejected her request for the court to lift media reporting restrictions against bail proceedings.

Lee and Ho were already in jail over other offences.