Subscribe to free Email Newsletter  
 
 
   

CHINA / Taiwan, HK, Macao

S.Korean anti-WTO protester acquitted in HK
(AP)
Updated: 2006-03-23 16:59

HONG KONG - Only one of 14 suspects arrested in rioting at last year's World Trade Organization meeting in Hong Kong faces charges, a judiciary spokesman said Thursday.
South Korean protester Yun Il-kwon, 36, was still charged with unlawful assembly, the spokesman, Mackenzie Mak, said.

Another South Korean protester, Park In-hwan, 31, was acquitted on Wednesday of the same charges, Mak said.

Park and Yun were among 14 suspects accused of attacking riot police during an anti-globalization protest on December 17. But charges against 12 of them had been dropped earlier.

The pair's defense lawyer, Martin Lee, argued that the prosecution case was weakened by unreliable police identification procedures, the South China Morning Post newspaper reported.

The court was due to hand down a verdict for Yun on March 30, Mak said. If convicted, Yun faces a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment.

About 1,000 protesters - many of them South Korean - were rounded up at December's riot after they fought with police and came close to storming the venue where trade ministers from around the world were in the final hours of negotiating.

Many of the protesters opposed the global trade body for trying to eliminate trade barriers that protect their market from foreign competition.

 
Comments (total )   Print This Article    E-mail  
 

   
Copyright 1995-2007. All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form.
Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
Registration Number: 20100000002731