HONG KONG — A Hong Kong courtroom sentenced 12 individuals Saturday to jail over the storming of town’s legislative council constructing on the top of the anti-government protests in 2019.
Tons of of protesters swarmed into the legislature the night time of July 1, 2019 — the twenty second anniversary of the previous British colony’s return to China — defacing footage and smashing furnishings. Some spray-painted slogans within the chamber and painted over the territory’s emblem on a wall earlier than vacating the location as riot police cleared surrounding streets with tear fuel earlier than shifting inside.
The 12 defendants, together with former pupil chief Althea Suen, actor Gregory Wong, and activists Ventus Lau and Owen Chow, have been beforehand convicted for rioting. A few of them have been additionally discovered responsible of different associated costs.
Decide Li Chi-ho handed down jail phrases ranging between 4 1/2 years and 6 years and 10 months, relying on the diploma of their involvement and mitigating elements.
Li stated the legislature holds a novel constitutional standing and the character of the occasion was critical, with a far-reaching impression. The acts of the protesters have been “concentrating on town’s authorities,” he stated.
The case additionally concerned two reporters who have been beforehand acquitted of the rioting cost however have been convicted for illegal entry into the legislature. One was fined 1,500 Hong Kong {dollars} ($192) and the opposite 1,000 Hong Kong {dollars} ($128), Li stated.
After the sentences have been handed down, some supporters of the defendants cried within the courtroom and plenty of others waved on the accused. Some chanted, “Dangle in there!”
On Monday, Lau stated in a listening to that he entered the legislature in hopes of minimizing the variety of accidents. Even when he might select 100 instances, he stated he would nonetheless go in as a result of he’d want to go to jail moderately than witness somebody getting damage.
“Since I’m sympathetic to the protesters, I’m prepared to go to jail with them,” he stated.
In the identical listening to, Chow stated when residents all of a sudden turned radical, it was really their cry of desperation when all paths to their purpose have been blocked.
Each Lau and Chow have been among the many 47 pro-democracy activists who have been charged with subversion in 2021 over an unofficial main election below a Beijing-imposed nationwide safety regulation.
Hong Kong authorities stated the enactment of the regulation helped deliver again stability to town after the huge 2019 protests. However lots of the metropolis’s main activists have been arrested below the regulation, whereas others fled overseas.
