Ho Iat Sang requests postponement of Sulu Sou’s trial

Ho listens to Sou’s intervention at the AL

The chairman of the Legislative Assembly (AL), Ho Iat Sang, wrote to the First Instance Court requesting a postponement of the trial date for lawmaker Sulu Sou, Ho said at a press conference yesterday.

The AL chairman pointed out that Sulu Sou has been accused of qualified disobedience. The trial was initially planned to start on 28 November. Ho observed that this is the first time since the establishment of the Macau SAR that a lawmaker faces criminal charges.

According to Ho, the AL needs to hold a plenary meeting to decide whether it agrees to suspend Sou’s mandate and consequently remove AL immunity, meaning that Sou would stand trial.

Ho noted that all matters will be settled according to AL’s rules of procedure. The AL chairman further noted that, according to the law, the AL can decide whether a lawmaker is required to be tried by the court. If more than half of the votes do not endorse Sou’s suspension, then the court will suspend the trial and wait until he is no longer a lawmaker, after which point the trial can take place.

However, as Ho explained, if the AL plenary meeting decides that Sou should face the case, then Sou himself will have to follow the current legal procedures and go to trial.

Since the AL will be, for several consecutive days, conducting meetings to debate next year’s Policy Address, and other topics cannot be added to these meetings, Ho has requested the court postpone Sou’s trial.

Yesterday, Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak expressed the opinion that the police force enforced the law in line with procedure when charging Sulu Sou for qualified disobedience, clarifying that this is not a political prosecution. Wong thus hopes that the public will not misinterpret the circumstances.

Wang pointed out that Sou was not a lawmaker when he participated in the demonstrations, nor was he a lawmaker when he was prosecuted in March.

Wong refuted the claim that the police force was unfair in labelling Sou’s actions as qualified disobedience, noting that when any suit procedure enters the prosecution stage, it means that the Prosecution Office has determined the police’s law enforcement to be legal and effective.

Yesterday, Chief Executive Chui Sai On said that Sou’s alleged crime did not take place recently, and that both the collection of evidence by the police and the works of the Prosecution Office (MP) regarding general cases do not need to be reported to the CE.

He emphasized that everyone is equal before the law, and that MP and the court only obey legal procedures.

Sulu Sou said yesterday that he would not comment on the MP’s or the police’s explanations regarding the details of the case because the AL is not a court, and that only in a court in front of judges is the appropriate place to make explanations. However, in previous statements, he said that the accusation is a “political case” linked to freedom of speech.