Prosecutors leading the case against Edward Leung in a trial dealing with the controversial National Security Legislation passed in Hong Kong in 2020 spent time arguing the finer points of American legal and political philosophy on day twelve of the trial.
Defense expert Eliza Lee didn't get far in her line of reasoning, however.
While she used her time in court today to debate the role of Malcolm X as an African-American separatist, she was stopped by Judge Anthea Pang, who said the line of questioning and debate was "far, far removed from the issues before the court."
Prosecutors apparently wanted to use the debate about the African-American racial justice proponent to set a backdrop against which they could characterise Leung as a separatist.
Prosecutors in Hong Kong's first national security trial, on Day 12, briefly explored the question of whether Malcolm X was a separatist.
— Holmes Chan (@holmeschan_) July 13, 2021
"How much do we need to venture into the complicated history of American racial segregation?" replied defence expert Eliza Lee.
Leung is on trial for taking part in events that the government and police have characterized as riots during the pro-democracy protests that rattled Hong Kong through much of 2019. Leung was a founder of this now-disbanded "nativist" advocacy group called Indigenous, which advocated for self-determination for Hong Kong's citizens.
Hong Kong has since passed a controversial National Security Legislation that experts and lawyers have said is too broad and too ambiguous to be properly deployed against questions of national security.
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