The Hong Kong Judiciary on Tuesday dismissed complaints against Magistrate Cheang Kei-hong, who was accused of bias against anti-government protesters in three court rulings.
Chief Magistrate Victor So Wai-tak said in a statement released on Tuesday that the complaints about Cheang’s judicial conduct when adjudicating three of the five cases in which he received complaints are unsubstantiated.
Magistrate Cheang Kei-hong has not expressed any view that indicates a personal or political inclination, or gives rise to a perception of apparent bias when handling the cases
Victor So Wai-tak,
chief magistrate
The two remaining cases will be handled later as the defendants of the concerned cases have lodged appeals to the Court of First Instance.
In the statement, So said Cheang “has not expressed any view that indicates a personal or political inclination, or gives rise to a perception of apparent bias” when handling the cases.
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So said he made his ruling after he looked at each of these cases in depth and read the transcripts of the audio recordings of the reasons for the verdicts, the reasons for the sentences, and other relevant parts of the proceedings in the cases.
One of the cases involved an 81-year-old man who stabbed ousted lawmaker and activist Leung Kwok-hung with a chisel in April, bruising Leung’s waist. Cheang sentenced the attacker to three months and six days’ imprisonment.
Cheang was said to have “justified” the defendant’s act, commended the defendant for “loving society”, and encouraged violent conduct.
So attached the transcript of the audio recording of the part of the relevant hearing in the statement. He said it can be seen that the magistrate, in the context of the hearing, just quoted what the defendant said without praising him.
In another case that Cheang ruled on in September, a male graphic designer who attacked a police officer with an umbrella and who possessed spray paint was sentenced to five months and 15 days in prison. The complaint against Cheang said that the reasons for conviction were unconvincing, and the words he used to describe the conduct of the defendant, “selfish” and “deplorable”, were biased.
So said Cheang’s verdict came after analyzing testimony and reviewing evidence presented in court, including the exhibits, video footage and medical reports of the prosecution witness.
“When the Magistrate mentioned ‘selfish’ and ‘deplorable’, his aim was to point out the seriousness of the case in terms of criminality and comparing it to other cases, with a view to explaining the underlying sentencing considerations,” So added in the statement.
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In the third case, a 21-year-old student was sentenced to 10 months behind bars for possessing offensive weapon in a public place in June. The complaint against Cheang said he was biased in his sentence and had targeted the defendant based on the student’s political stance.
Cheang had called for a report to assess the defendant’s suitability for the Detention Centre before passing sentence. But the report showed the defendant was physically not suitable for admission to the Detention Centre, the statement said.
