by Brian Wong in SCMP, Mar 22, 2023
A former opposition lawmaker arrested in Hong Kong by national security police for allegedly perverting the course of justice has been remanded in custody by a magistrate who held that he had violated his bail conditions ahead of a subversion trial.

West Kowloon Court on Wednesday revoked the bail previously granted to Albert Ho Chun-yan after prosecutors argued he had interfered with witnesses in a separate national security case.

Chief Magistrate Victor So Wai-tak, who was approved by the city’s leader to hear the prosecution’s complaint, ruled that one of nine bail conditions imposed on the 71-year-old had been or was very likely to have been breached.

“Based on this, the court revokes your bail and you are remanded in custody,” he told the court after an hour of submissions from the bar table.

Ho waved to dozens of supporters in the public gallery before he was taken away by prison officers. He can renew his bail application at the High Court.

The former politician is accused of interfering with a family member of a suspect detained in connection with the city’s largest national security prosecution.

The case involves 47 opposition figures facing subversion charges arising from an unofficial primary election in July 2020. The trial against 16 of them is being heard by three High Court judges at West Kowloon Court.

The remaining 31 defendants have either pleaded guilty or told the court they would do so when their pleas were formally taken.

Three coordinators and a participant of the event have agreed to testify for the prosecution in exchange for shorter sentences.
The Post is barred from divulging details of Wednesday’s hearing due to statutory restrictions on reporting bail proceedings.

An application by the media to lift the curbs was dismissed by the magistrate, who noted that allowing the identification of the suspect concerned could prejudice the ongoing trial and put them and their family members under unnecessary pressure.

Ho was granted bail last August while facing a charge of inciting subversion in relation to his role as vice-chairman of the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China.

The nine conditions previously set for Ho included cash bail of HK$700,000 (US$89, 178), surety from two personal guarantees of HK$200,000 from his daughter and younger brother’s wife, as well as reporting to Wan Chai Police Station three times a week.

He was also barred from leaving Hong Kong and doing anything that might reasonably be regarded as violating the national security law or crimes endangering national security under local legislation.

The former legislator was first diagnosed with lung cancer in 2017. He has since recovered, but a medical check-up last year detected a shadow in his lungs.

A lawyer by profession, Ho served as a legislator for about two decades between 1995 and 2016, and chaired the Democratic Party, Hong Kong’s biggest opposition group, from 2006 to 2012.

He ran for the chief executive job in 2012 but lost to eventual winner Leung Chun-ying, who is now vice-chairman of Beijing’s top political advisory body.https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3214380/former-opposition-lawmaker-albert-ho-remanded-custody-after-arrest-hong-kong-national-security