A Hong Kong judge has sparked outrage after making sympathetic comments about a man who stabbed three people standing in front of a Lennon Wall last August.
Activists are urging people to file complaints against District Judge Kwok Wai-kin after he said defendant Tony Hung was a “bloodstained victim” and “involuntary sacrifice” of the pro-democracy protests. Joshua Wong slammed Kwok for “[violating] his impartiality” and devoting a third of his statement during sentencing to criticizing the protest movement, and questioned how Hong Kong courts — with their “politicized judiciary” — were any different from their mainland counterparts.
Pro-democracy activist Ventus Lau, who was disqualified from the 2018 New Territories East by-election for supporting independence, shared a guide on how to file complaints against Kwok on Facebook. “The rule of law is dead, and red officials are in charge,” Lau wrote. “It’s time to take action against the unjust judiciary.”
Hung pleaded guilty to three counts of wounding with intent on Friday. In court, the 51-year-old said he had been out of work as a tour guide for two months when the attack occurred last August.
In court, Hung said he accepted his responsibility and cared about the people he injured, which Kwok called “noble sentiments”. The judge further described Hong Kong protesters as a “terrorist army” who had “put the final nail in the tourism industry’s coffin” during anti-mainland protests at the airport.
Kwok then sentenced Hung to 45 months in jail — a drastic reduction from the starting point of six years’ imprisonment.
At around 1:30am on August 20, Hung got into an argument about the protests in front of a Lennon Wall in Tseung Kwan O, then took a beef knife out from his pocket and slashed two women and one man.
All three victims were hospitalized, with one woman — a 26-year-old reporter for the Hong Kong Economic Journal — remaining in critical condition for a significant period of time. She suffered a collapsed lung and neck and back wounds and reportedly developed post-traumatic stress after the incident.
Hung immediately fled the scene and changed his clothes. He was apprehended about 13 hours later while trying to cross the border into mainland China. We wonder if the irony of him trying to skip town after he attacked those who opposed the extradition bill ever occurred to him.
