In the first case of the Anti-Terrorism Ordinance, seven people pleaded not guilty. The case entered the fourth day of trial in the High Court on Thursday (25th). The prosecution earlier alleged that co-defendant Huang Zhenqiang, who pleaded guilty in the case, was the leader of the “Dragon Slaying Squad” and summoned Liu Weixiong (transliteration), a police officer from the National Security Department who had met Huang, to testify.
Police officer Liu testified that it was Huang who took the initiative to contact the police and said that he planned to plead guilty. After the police met with him three times, they took a “non-impairable confession” for Huang from the fourth meeting onwards. He also stated that they met with Huang a total of 10 times (see text below). Table), and denied that the process involved inducement or intimidation. Under cross-examination, Liu confessed that he destroyed notes from at least eight meetings after reporting to his superiors.
Among them, the defense questioned whether Liu destroyed the interview notes before taking the “confession without prejudice”, whether he did not want the defense to know what happened during the process, and whether he did not want the court to know that Huang had communicated and bargained with the police. Liu denied it, and pointed out that in the three meetings before recording the confession, Huang mainly said that he wanted to plead guilty and explain the incident. The case continues on Friday.
National Security Police Confessed: Met Huang Zhenqiang 10 times
Intimidation without benefits
The prosecution summoned Detective Constable 16991 Liu Weixiong (transliteration) of the National Security Department of the Police to testify. Based on his confession, Liu joined the police force in 2013 and participated in riot prevention work in 2019. He was stationed in the Kwai Tsing Crime Unit at that time. Since August 2021, he has been transferred to the National Security Department and has been responsible for investigating this case.
Police officer Liu testified that co-conspirator Huang Zhenqiang expressed his wish to meet with police investigators, so he and his colleagues went to Lai Chi Kok Reception Center to meet Huang on May 19, 2023. He said that he met Huang Zhenqiang about 10 times in total, during which time he took a confession from Huang. Police officer Liu said under questioning that there was no inducement or intimidation of Huang during the process.
The prosecution stated in its opening statement a few days ago that Huang Zhenqiang was the leader of the “Dragon Slaying Squad”. They planned to detonate bombs during the Democratic Front parade and shoot at the police officers at the scene from a high place to force the police officers to retreat before detonating the explosive force. A bomb with a radius of 400 meters and more than a hundred iron nails inside; when the police officer was hit, “all the people were armed”. According to reports, Huang will testify as a prosecution witness in court on Thursday.
Police Liu said that during the first three meetings, Huang said he wanted to plead guilty and explain everything.
Based on Police Officer Liu’s confession, the meeting between Huang and the police can be roughly divided into four stages.
In the first phase, from May to June 2023, the police met with Huang three times. Liu claimed that it was Huang Zhenqiang who requested to meet with the case manager and investigation team, and he and his colleagues were sent to Lai Chi Kok Retention Center. The three meetings lasted from 50 minutes to 1.5 hours. Liu wrote down the contents of the meetings on paper, but destroyed the notes after reporting to his superiors. At the meeting, Huang expressed his wish to plead guilty and “want to explain everything about the incident.” At that time, Liu Zhuhuang contacted his legal representative to handle the matter.
The next stage was from August to September of the same year, and the police divided it into three days to take “confession without prejudice to rights and interests” from Huang. The defense added that Huang was charged with “conspiracy to provide or raise property to commit terrorist acts” in 2023, and he expressed his intention to plead guilty on August 28 of the same year.
The third stage was in September of the same year, when Huang and his legal representatives reviewed and signed the confession. Among them, on the 16th, Police Officer Liu gave Huang a draft of his confession for review, saying that part of the content “may not convey the meaning”. After Liu revised the draft, Huang and his legal representatives reviewed the confession again on September 20 and signed it for confirmation. Police officer Liu looked through the confession text in court and said that there were 120 pages in total, of which more than 30 pages were oral confession content, and the remaining 80 pages were attachments, including the Telegram messages involved in the case.
The final stage was from November to December of the same year, when Huang had been transferred to Siu Lam Correctional Institution and met with the police twice.
According to evidence in court, police officer Liu destroyed at least 8 interview notes.
When asked about the reason for these meetings, Police Officer Liu met with Huang. Liu said, “It was written by him (Huang) that he wanted to meet with our case supervisor, that is, the investigation team.” Under cross-examination, Liu said that “writing out” was a term that did not refer to Huang’s letter, but that he received notices and instructions to meet with Huang, and Huang “generally said that he wanted to plead guilty. The police had not received any information.” ”. Based on the evidence in court, Police Liu confirmed that after reporting to his superiors, he destroyed the notes of the first to eighth meetings with Huang.
Defense Li Guofu: Did Huang bargain with the police?
Except for the sixth defendant Xu Zhanrong, the defense cross-examined Police Officer Liu, focusing on why Liu claimed that Huang Zhenqiang took the initiative to contact the police, and the details of Huang’s three meetings with the police before taking a “confession without prejudice to his rights.”
Li Guofu, Zhang Junfu’s representative, questioned whether the police would find Huang’s request to see the police strange or unusual? Liu replied no. “It’s normal for a person on remand to want to see the case supervisor.” Li Zai questioned, did Huang have legal representation at that time? Liu agreed. Li asked Liu if he notified Huang’s lawyer? Liu said no.
Li asked about the meeting. Liu said that in the first three meetings, Huang wanted to plead guilty and explain the incident. “I kept talking and asked his legal representative to discuss with the prosecution. The police did not receive any information.” Li asked if Huang was bargaining with the police, “If he admits certain things, he would not be charged with certain crimes?” Liu simply said that at that time Huang asked if the police had received notification from his legal representative that he wanted to plead guilty.
Ma Weiping questioned why he needed to see the police if he changed his plea to guilty
During cross-examination, prosecutor Ma Weixiang, representing the defendant Liu Peining, pointed out that in October 2022, the case was officially handed over to the High Court, and Huang Zhenqiang expressed not guilty at that time. Officer Liu agreed. Ma Zai pointed out that Huang met with the police for the first time on May 19, 2023. The process lasted 1.5 hours. It was impossible to just say that he planned to plead guilty. He said that from an ordinary person’s point of view, “If he wants to plead guilty, he must negotiate with the court through a lawyer.” “Hey.” Officer Liu replied, “So I can’t speculate on what he did.”
Ma asked, “I believe you know what’s going on. Common sense says it’s not as simple as just pleading guilty.” Officer Liu replied, “I don’t know what his state of mind is.” Ma asked, what was discussed in the meeting? Liu said he had forgotten. Ma Sui said: “This is a difficult problem… there is no record, so we can’t repeat what we have said.”
Yao Benzheng questioned whether he wanted to plead guilty, “How long will it take to explain it for an hour?”
Prosecutor Yao Benzheng, representing Zhang Mingyu, asked that Police Liu did not record the process and content of Huang Shi’s visit during the 10 interviews. It was not until he testified in court that he disclosed the situation for the first time. Liu agreed. Yao asked again, Liu met Huang “because he wanted to know what the defendant was thinking”, so why didn’t he record it? Liu said there was an oral report, and said the most important information was Huang Yu’s confession and account of the incident.
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Yao questioned that the first meeting lasted for more than an hour, “‘Sir, I want to plead guilty,’ and the explanation lasted for an hour? Impossible?” Liu replied, “I want to explain to him…I can’t handle the fact that he wants to plead guilty.” …Then we will refer him to his legal representative.” Liu also testified that the case and confession were not discussed in the first three meetings.
Yao also asked, when Huang took the “death without prejudice”, why was his legal representative not notified to be present? Liu said he had forgotten it, saying, “The main point I think is to sign the contract.” Yao continued, if Huang mentioned Taiwan’s military training, would it be better to have a lawyer present? Liu said Huang did not make the request at the time.
Yao also pointed out that Huang complained about being beaten by the police and forcing him to make phone calls during the delivery process. Liu said he had no knowledge. The prosecution objected to the question, and Yao said it would wait for Huang to give evidence before cross-examining it.
Liang Honggu and Lin Zhiying questioned the purpose of destroying the notes
Regarding the destruction of meeting notes by Police Officer Liu, both Liang Honggu and Lin Zhiying, representing Yan Wenqian and Li Jiatian, questioned the matter. Among them, Liang pointed out that Liu’s statement that the meeting notes had been destroyed was not true. Liu denied it. Liang further said, “You don’t want to communicate and bargain with the police before the court learns about this tainted witness.” Liu also denied it.
Lin Zhiying pointed out that the crime of “conspiracy to commit crowdfunding for terrorism” that Huang was involved in was handled by the police wealth investigation team. The team had retained the draft paper of the meeting with Huang. She questioned why Police Liu did not retain it? Liu replied, “I can’t explain it to him.” Lin suggested, “You have no reason to keep…because you don’t want the defense to know what happened in the middle of seeing him so many times.” Liu denied it.
Lai Zhenbang’s representative, Xiangyuan, pointed out that Huang’s witness statement totaled 120 pages, and included many Telegram conversations and pictures. She said that the above attachments were selected by Police Liu from among many documents. Liu said “I told him (Huang Zhenqiang) about it”, pointing out that Huang provided part of the Telegram conversation when describing the incident, and he then attached the relevant conversation to the witness’s statement. The defense asked again, that is, it was Police Liu who selected the attachments, not Huang Zhenqiang? Liu agreed.
7 people charged with conspiracy to murder, Counter-Terrorism Ordinance
The case was heard by Judge Zhang Huiling and a jury of 3 men and 6 women. The seven defendants are Zhang Junfu, Zhang Mingyu, Yan Wenqian, Li Jiatian, Lai Zhenbang, Xu Zhanrong and Liu Pei Ning. Their ages ranged from 20 to 29 years old at the time of prosecution.
The first six people were charged with “conspiracy to commit the crime of bombing a prescribed subject” under the United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Ordinance, and conspiracy to murder a Hong Kong police officer. Li Jiatian was also accused of possessing a pistol, magazines and ammunition; Liu Pei-ning was charged with “conspiracy to provide or raise property for the purpose of committing terrorist acts”.
Case number: HCCC164/2022, HCCC255/2023
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Tags: antiterrorism case national security police confessed Huang Zhenqiang initiative change plea defense questioned destruction meeting notes purpose
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