The Court of Second Instance (TSI) has ordered the retrial of political activist Scott Chiang Meng Hin, quashing last year’s ruling by the Court of First Instance (TJB) on the case.
The TSI ruling quoted António Dias Azedo, the judge-rapporteur in the case, as saying that the lower court’s ruling was quashed as it had failed to give Chiang’s defence counsel the chance to respond to the accusation of illegal demonstration which was only announced at the very end of his trial.
In the TJB trial, Chiang had initially been accused of aggravated disobedience but then was sentenced for participation in an illegal demonstration. Both Chiang and his lawyer only learnt of the change in accusation when the sentence was announced in May last year.
