判決理由書／裁決書撮要(由AI生成)
以下撮要以AI生成及／或翻譯，內容以原來的判決理由書／裁決書為準。
The judgment stated that at approximately 4 a.m. on 1 October 2019, officers using forced-entry tools broke into Flat B on the ninth floor of a building on Hennessy Road in Wan Chai. They awakened the first to fifth defendants, who were asleep, and seized a large quantity of materials suspected to be related to protest riots and ingredients for petrol bombs; the sixth defendant surrendered on 17 October and was arrested. The six were initially charged with conspiracy to commit arson; on the first day of the hearing, the charges were amended to conspiracy to participate in a riot or unlawful assembly. All pleaded not guilty, the defence exercised the right to remain silent, and the court considered only the prosecution’s circumstantial and direct evidence.
The prosecution must prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that the defendants reached an agreement to participate in a riot or unlawful assembly, and that the statutory requirements of an assembly of three or more persons together with violence or disorder were met.
As the defendants’ materials were scattered or possibly held by multiple parties, and the CCTV footage, communication records, and social media evidence were flawed or hearsay in nature, it was difficult to conclude that each defendant had genuinely agreed to manufacture or deploy petrol bombs, so the element of agreement could not be established.
The prosecution’s case admitted various reasonable explanations and significant doubts remained, insufficient to sustain the charges of conspiracy to riot or unlawful assembly.
The court ultimately acquitted all the defendants of the charges of conspiracy to participate in a riot and unlawful assembly. (Translated from Chinese to English by AI)
查看完整判決理由書／裁決書