Three police officers were released on bail today after being arrested earlier this week over their alleged involvement in the brutal assault of an elderly suspect in custody that was caught on CCTV.
The three men appeared today at the Shatin Magistrates’ Court, where Judge Ko Wai-hung set their bail at HK$10,000.
Footage of the shocking assault was first revealed on Tuesday by a pro-democracy lawmaker who is assisting the victim’s families. It showed two officers, aged 24 and 25, repeatedly punching the restrained man, named Chung Chi Wah, in the crotch and abdomen, shining bright lights into his eyes, jabbing him in the genitals with their batons, and smeared his face with what the man’s children later said was a urine-soaked cloth.
Another officer, aged 30, can be seen entering and leaving the room multiple times while appearing to take no action to stop the two others.
The victim, Chung, had been arrested for allegedly assaulting an officer following a drunken fight. He was taken to Northern District Hospital, strapped to a hospital bed, and moved to private room, where the assault took place.
CCTV footage of @hkpoliceforce assaulting a detained and strapped detainee in a hospital ward, including punching his crotch several times. @HKDemocrats lawmaker LAM Cheuk Ting had a presser this morning with the victim's family members making public this scary scenes pic.twitter.com/cqwiOacMgC
— LO Kin-hei 羅健熙 (@lokinhei) August 20, 2019
At the hearing today, Judge Ko agreed to postpone the trial until Oct. 17 to allow the prosecution time to obtain Chung’s medical records. Ko also recommended psychiatric assessments for Chung, according to Stand News.
While the three were arrested hours after the footage was released, police acknowledged yesterday in announcing the arrest that they had been aware of the incident for almost two months. Officials claimed that the investigation had stalled because the complaint had been filed by the victim’s son, not the victim himself, and because they had been unaware of that the hospital had CCTV cameras.
The victim’s son, however, said police made no efforts to reach him after an initial email saying they had opened a case following his complaint, HKFP reports. What’s more, local media reports called into question police’s claim that they were unaware of the CCTV footage, showing a door to the hospital’s “Disturbed Patient Room” that featured a sign saying it was under 24-hour video surveillance.
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On Wednesday, Chief Superintendent John Tse insisted that, despite the weeks of apparent inaction, “there was no intentional delay in the investigation progress.”
He also refused, when pressed, to offer an apology for the incident.
Though Tse characterized the case as “very serious,” some have questioned the relative lightness of the charge suggested by police: assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Some, including the pro-democracy lawmaker who released the footage, have called for the men to be charged with torture instead.
Assault occasioning bodily harm is punishable by up to three years in prison, while torture is punishable by life behind bars.
The furor over the case comes as public confidence in the police force has plummeted over their handling of the city’s ongoing pro-democracy protest movement.
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