Veteran Hong Kong activist remanded in custody on suspicion of sedition over plans to display coffin, stage protest against district council election
- The 77-year-old was arrested on Friday, just before he was allegedly about to carry coffin to stage a protest outside an electoral office
- ‘I did not succeed in bringing the coffin to protest … as I was arrested by national security police before I intended to do so,’ defendant says
Veteran Hong Kong activist Koo Sze-yiu has been remanded in custody on suspicion of sedition over plans to hold up a coffin and stage a protest against the revamped district council poll.
The 77-year-old appeared in West Kowloon Court on Monday after he was arrested by national security police at his home in Cheung Sha Wan on Friday, just before he was allegedly about to carry the coffin prop to stage a protest outside a registration and electoral office.
Koo was not required to enter a plea yet, but he said he intended to plead not guilty to Principal Magistrate Don So Man-lung.
“I did not succeed in bringing the coffin to protest at the registration and electoral office as I was arrested by national security police before I intended to do so,” the defendant told the court.
Prosecutors asked for a four-week adjournment to obtain security footage and statements from electoral officers, whom Koo was said to have contacted before his arrest.
So dismissed Koo’s application for bail and adjourned the case to January 10. The defendant had no legal representatives during Monday’s proceedings.
The city’s district council poll on Sunday was the first under Beijing’s “patriots-only” principle. The central government called the election “successful”, despite a record-low turnout of only 27.54 per cent.
In July last year, Koo was sentenced to nine months in prison for attempting to protest against the Chinese Communist Party ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics earlier this year.
He was charged based on a colonial-era sedition law for planning to publicly display a handcrafted coffin emblazoned with slogans and political demands, a protest routine he had established over his years of activism.
A 51-year-old clerk appeared at Eastern Court on Monday after she was earlier arrested by the Independent Commission Against Corruption on suspicion of inciting others to cast invalid votes in the district council election.
According to the anti-corruption body, Yeung Sze-wing had allegedly shared a Facebook post from former district councillor Leos Lee Man-ho that had called on the public to boycott the election.
Her own post also featured a caption allegedly from the clerk that urged voters to spoil their ballots by writing their names and Hong Kong identity cards on the slips, the commission added.
The court released Yeung on a HK$1,000 (US$128) bail and told her to return for the next hearing on January 22, 2024.
The commission also obtained a court warrant for the arrest of 29-year-old Lee, who had previously left the city. He faces one count of engaging in illegal conduct to incite another person not to vote.
Under Hong Kong’s Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance, anyone convicted of inciting others not to vote or to cast invalid ballots during an election can face up to three years in prison and a maximum fine of HK$200,000.
