Gunman who targeted Hong Kong democracy leader is jailed

Jul 3, 2009, 9:14 GMT

Hong Kong - A Chinese would-be hit man arrested in Hong Kong with a gun and bullets in a suspected plot to shoot pro-democracy champion Martin Lee was Friday jailed for 16 years.

   Huang Nanhua, 50, was found guilty in Hong Kong's High Court of possessing a pistol and five rounds of ammunition after being arrested in a routine police check on a taxi last August.

   He is believed to have been sent to Hong Kong with instructions to target 71-year-old Lee. A photograph and the home address of media tycoon Jimmy Lai were also found on him when he was arrested.

   Huang later told police he had been instructed to come to Hong Kong to 'teach someone a lesson,' the court was told.

   After a two-week hearing, Huang was found guilty of the offence Friday. The judge told him that the courts would not tolerate people coming to Hong Kong with the intention of doing harm.

   Lee is the retired founder of Hong Kong's Democratic Party and was campaigning for colleagues in last year's Legislative Council elections when Huang was arrested.

   When news of the alleged plot first became public in May, he remarked: 'I have never feared death. It would be an honour to shed blood for democracy.'

   However, he said he did not believe the mainland government was behind the incident, saying Chinese officials were 'more keen to use character assassination.'

   Jimmy Lai, who owns the Apple Daily newspaper, is a persistent critic of China and a supporter of pro-democracy movements in the Communist-led country.

Prosecutors said Huang had visited a Democratic Party office in Hong Kong to see if Lee was there in what they said was a dry-run for an attack.

   The gun seized by police was smuggled from China to Hong Kong in August and then passed to Huang, they alleged.

   Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule in 1997 under a 'one country, two systems' arrangement allowing political freedoms and freedom of speech denied to people in the rest of China.