Hong Kong actor Gregory Wong loses appeal against 2019 Legco storming conviction

2026.03.18 05:50 Actor Gregory Wong enters West Kowloon Court on February 1, 2024. Photo: AFP Hong Kong actor Gregory Wong Chung-yiu has lost an appeal against his conviction and jail sentence of six years and two months for abetting a riot at the Legislative Council Complex during the 2019 anti-government protests. In a written judgment delivered on Wednesday, the Court of Appeal also dismissed the complaints by six others convicted in the high-profile case. The appellants had argued their jail terms of at least four years and 7½ months were manifestly excessive. Wong was among 14 people prosecuted for storming the complex on July 1, 2019, a month into the large-scale unrest that erupted that year over a later-withdrawn extradition bill. In 2024, Deputy District Judge Li Chi-ho handed down jail sentences ranging from 4½ years and 20 days to five years and three months to eight defendants who pleaded guilty to rioting before trial, including activists Ventus Lau Wing-hong and Owen Chow Ka-shing. Neither Lau nor Chow filed an appeal. Wong and three others received prison sentences ranging from six years and two months to six years and 10 months after being found guilty. Two reporters were also fined HK$1,000 (US$128) and HK$1,500 for unlawfully entering the Legco building. Lawyers for the actor, the only appellant making substantive arguments for overturning his conviction, said the trial judge failed to give sufficient weight to his exculpatory statement in court that he was at the scene to deliver two chargers to a journalist covering the break-in. They said Wong only stayed inside the Legco building for a very short period – only 5½ minutes – while highlighting his social media remarks that he supported peaceful demonstrations. Protesters storm the Legislative Council Complex in 2019. Photo: Sam Tsang Mr Justice Keith Yeung Kar-hung, who penned Wednesday’s judgment on behalf of a three-judge panel, said a person could take part in a riot by abetting and encouragin

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