The defense team of a Hongkonger who has spent 18 years in a Philippine prison for a drug crime he denies committing has received potentially exculpatory evidence from the Philippine government, supporters of the man announced on social media.
The critical evidence — immigration records that raise a major discrepancy in the case against Tang Lung-wai, but which were not submitted at his trial — was handed to the Chinese Embassy by the Philippine Immigration Bureau this week, following a personal appeal from Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam to President Rodrigo Duterte.
The records “clearly show” that Tang was not in the country when he was supposedly being “monitored” by police as part of a drug-trafficking ring, as was claimed in his trial, said Hong Kong lawmaker Paul Tse, who has long fought on Tang’s behalf.
“The record clearly shows that Tang took flight PR307 and arrived Philippines on June 19, 2000, which is different from the fact that the police officers claimed that they had been following him from June 1 to June 12 for 12 days,” he said, in a press conference broadcast on social media.
Asked why it took so long to obtain the travel records, Tse said the lawyer who first handled Tang’s defense might have “focused on other evidence.”
In 2000, Tang, now 47, was detained along with his friend, Cheung Tai-on, and a third man, Goh Sek-hung. The trio was taken to a flat where officers found 8 kilograms of methamphetamine, the SCMP has reported.
After an incredibly drawn-out legal process, Tang and Cheung received 40-year prison sentences in October 2011. Goh was acquitted for lack of evidence. Cheung died of a heart attack in prison in 2016.
Last year, a court rejected an appeal, and Tang — who has long maintained he was framed by police — is currently appealing to the Supreme Court.
The handing over of the evidence follows personal appeals by both Lam and the city’s Secretary for Security John Lee.
Lam, in a recent letter to Duterte, asked for “compassionate consideration” in expediting the request for the travel records, as the deadline to submit supplementary briefs for the Supreme Court appeal bid was looming.
Noting it had taken 11 years for Tang to be convicted, she wrote: “The prolonged process has understandably drawn wide public attention in Hong Kong and caused much torment to the family members and friends of Mr Tang.”
The secretary for security, meanwhile, wrote to the head of the Philippine Bureau of Immigration on Aug. 10 to ask for “urgent assistance” in the matter.
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