Sept 16, 2015 (RTHK) — The Court of First Instance has fined Apple Daily and Sharp Daily newspapers, as well as two of their former chief editors, for contempt of court over the publication of an interview with a man who was awaiting trial for murdering his parents.
Apple Daily‘s former chief editor, Cheung Kim-hung, was fined HK$90,000 while the newspaper itself was fined HK$250,000. The now-defunct Sharp Daily and its then editor-in-chief, Li Pang-kay, were fined HK$150,000 and HK$60,000 respectively.
In imposing the fines, Mr Justice Thomas Au said the case was serious and should serve as a reminder on how far journalism can go. But he also acknowledged that the newspapers and their former editors had admitted their guilt at a very early stage, and that the publication of the interviews in 2013 did not have any impact on the trial of the man, Henry Chau.
For more on the RTHK story and audio report, see here.
See also, Secretary for Justice v Cheung Kim Hung and Another [2015] HKCFI 1462
