The highest court in Hong Kong has overturned the conviction of a well-known journalist, in a rare win for the media amidst a recent crackdown. Bao Choy, also known as Choy Yuk-ling, had produced an investigative documentary in 2019 about police conduct during antigovernment protests in Hong Kong. She used a public database to find the license plates of vehicles transporting the suspected attackers at the train station on July 21, 2019, that injured 45 people, and traced them to Hong Kong’s outlying villages. In 2020, she was arrested and found guilty in 2021 of making false statements to the car registry to obtain the records. She was ordered to pay HKD 6,000 (about $775).
However, on Monday, the judges from the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong unanimously overturned her conviction, arguing that the court may not have fully known if Choy had knowingly made false statements, given that several media outlets had filed similar applications. The judges noted that the court had concluded that “substantial and grave injustice was done to her.”
After the ruling, Choy expressed happiness for the first time in a long while and said that maybe many people were feeling the same way. The Hong Kong Journalists Association also welcomed the decision, saying that the victory defended the space that the industry ought to enjoy when searching for public records. Choy’s conviction had a chilling effect on news outlets, but the ruling brought relief to Hong Kong’s journalists. However, journalists still face significant constraints under the 2020 national security law, which prohibits inciting hatred towards the government. Hong Kong also has laws that criminalize seditious publications, making independent journalism in the city challenging. However, Choy co-founded The Collective HK, an independent media outlet, in February 2022.
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