Sou and Chiang’s trial postponed

Scott Chiang (left) and Sulu Sou

The trial of lawmaker Sulu Sou and former New Macau Association’s (ANM) president and political activist Scott Chiang, which was scheduled to start this morning, has been postponed by the presiding judge to next week (January 16), a statement from the Court of First Instance (TJB) informed.
In the statement, the TJB says that the court, “authorized the request for the postponement of the trial” that had been submitted by the defense lawyer Jorge Menezes. The request for postponement was made to allow Menezes to have enough time to acquaint himself with the court file, obtain translation of the relevant documents and prepare his defense for both defendants, as disclosed in a statement issued on Sunday by Sou and Chiang.

The two former leaders of ANM are facing charges of aggravated disobedience to the authorities in May 2016 after a street protest was carried out voicing a complaint against the RMB100 million donation granted by the Macao Foundation to the Jinan University in Guangdong. The police accused both leaders of deviating from the agreed plan when they tried to deliver a petition directly to the official residence of the Chief Executive Chui Sai On.

This is the second postponement of the first hearing of this case as it had initially been scheduled for November 28, 2017. It was not possible for the trial to begin on that date as the Legislative Assembly had to deliberate over whether Sou should or should not be suspended from his mandate as a lawmaker, so he could be present in court. He was eventually suspended, allowing the continuation of the judicial case. RM