Hong Kong top court rejects actor Gregory Wong’s final appeal over 2019 LegCo rioting conviction

Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal has dismissed an appeal bid by actor Gregory Wong to overturn his rioting conviction and sentence over the storming of the Legislative Council (LegCo) during the 2019 protests and unrest.

Gregory Wong on May 29, 2023. File photo: Lea Mok/HKFP.

An Appeal Committee of the Court of Final Appeal comprising permanent judges Roberto Ribeiro and Johnson Lam, alongside non-permanent judge Patrick Chan, on Friday dismissed Wong’s application for leave to appeal against his rioting conviction and six-year-and-two-month prison sentence.

“It discloses no reasonable grounds for leave to appeal,” the appeal committee said of Wong’s application in the order.

Wong was sentenced to prison in March 2024, after being found guilty of rioting in LegCo on July 1, 2019, when protesters stormed the legislative complex over a controversial, since-withdrawn extradition bill.

The storming of LegCo marked a sharp escalation in the 2019 protests and unrest, as protesters vandalised the chamber and defaced Hong Kong’s emblem.

Protesters storm the legislative complex on July 1, 2019. File Photo: May James.

Wong was seen inside the occupied chamber interacting with protesters, such as tapping their shoulders. His lawyer argued that the actor was merely there to pass equipment to journalists.

In March, his appeal bid was dismissed by the Court of Appeal. Three appellate judges also ruled that his prison term was not excessive.

He then sought to take his case to the Court of Final Appeal, but the top court’s registrar ruled in May that his application lacked reasonable grounds, directing him to submit further written justification, according to legal news outlet The Witness.

Friday’s ruling means Wong has exhausted all avenues of appeal against his conviction and sentence.

Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal. File photo: GovHK.

Wong was among 12 defendants convicted and jailed in the LegCo storming case, alongside pro-democracy activists Owen Chow and Ventus Lau, both of whom pleaded guilty.

Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.”