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Asia Minute: Hong Kong’s Dramatic Week in Court

Wikipedia
Wikipedia

This has been a dramatic week in Hong Kong. A former top leader of the city was sentenced to prison, and another court case led to an unusual protest by tens of thousands of police officers. HPR’s Bill Dorman has details in today’s Asia Minute.

 

Five years ago, Donald Tsang was Hong Kong’s Chief Executive. Today, he’s begun a 20 month prison sentence for misconduct in office.  The 72-year-old is the highest-ranking former official to be jailed in the long and tangled history of Hong Kong.  The presiding judge in his case said this week “Never in my career have I seen a man fall from so high.”

While still in office, Tsang was negotiating a private lease with a Chinese property developer.  That developer was also a shareholder in a media company which was applying for several broadcast licenses from Hong Kong’s government.

The businessman got the licenses. Tsang never disclosed the relationship, and a jury found him guilty.

Three years ago, his deputy was convicted of misconduct in office for his dealings with another Chinese property developer.

A different court case this week sparked an angry reaction from Hong Kong’s law enforcement community.

In the fall of 2014, television cameras captured images of seven police officers beating and kicking a protestor from the Occupy Hong Kong movement.

Last week they were convicted of assault and sentenced to two years in prison.

The South China Morning Post reports that this week, 33,000 current and former police showed up to a demonstration calling the sentences unfair.

Bill Dorman has been the news director at Hawaiʻi Public Radio since 2011.
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