During the police blockade and siege of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in November 2019, eight people were suspected of assisting demonstrators in the Polytechnic University to evade police arrest, including Zheng Jinman, assistant to former Legislative Council member Zheng Songtai, and an administrative director of the Civil Affairs Department. Five of them denied the crime of obstructing justice, and Zheng also denied the additional charge of rioting. then not guilty. As for the remaining four defendants, they were convicted of obstruction of justice.
The eight defendants in the case are Ye Jiaqi (27 years old, driver), He Zhihao (28 years old, decoration worker), Zheng Jinman (32 years old, former assistant to the Legislative Council member), Chen Qixian (33 years old, executive director of the Home Affairs Department), Huang Yitao ( 25 years old, unemployed), Feng Sirui (30 years old, stage lighting worker), Lin Yongwen (31 years old, advertising director, female) and Liang Zuguang (24 years old, reported as a salesperson). Among them, Ye Jiaqi, Huang Yitao and Liang Zuguang each pleaded guilty to obstructing justice, and Liang was also charged with dangerous driving. The prosecution agreed to file the crime without prosecution. The remaining five defendants maintained their pleas of not guilty to trial. All the defendants were charged with attempting to obstruct justice together with others in Hong Kong on November 20, 2019, that is, obstructing the arrest of the Hong Kong Police Force. In the middle of the trial, one of the defendants, Zheng Jinman, was charged with an additional charge of rioting. He was accused of participating in the riot with others at PolyU on November 17, 2019. Zheng denied the charge.
According to the prosecution plan, on the day of the incident, demonstrators in PolyU used underground channels to bypass the police’s ground line of defense and escape from PolyU. Patrol officers found a private car driving to the south of Cheong Tung Road next to a canal mouth, in which both Feng Sirui and Lin Yongwen were in the car. Then Chen Qixian appeared. He tied a red rope to the stone pillar, and stretched the other end into the ditch. Others helped to pull the rope. Not long after, two people wearing lamps and gas masks climbed out of the canal, one of whom was Zheng Jinman. The police then launched an operation and arrested the four people mentioned above. Since the driving recorder of the vehicle involved in the case has a recording function, the police discovered the conversation between Feng and Lin in the car, which showed that the two knew that someone would escape from PolyU through the gully. In addition, in the early morning of the same day, He Zhihao and Ye Jiaqi, who had pleaded guilty, were walking on Zhongxiao Street. After the police stopped the two people and questioned them, He was arrested by the police for loitering because of his hesitation. During the meeting, He confessed that he wanted to provide volunteer services for those who escaped from PolyU, and admitted that he joined a communication software group for the purpose of discussing the location of “parents picking up children” and “rewarding for volunteers”.
Case No.: DCCC 314,363/2021
