Politics played no part in Hong Kong court’s decision to jail young activists
Grenville Cross says the appeals court was right to overrule the initial, more lenient sentences that gave undue weight to the activists’ political motivation, a violation of the principle that all are equal before the law
The offence of unlawful assembly is punishable with up to five years’ imprisonment, and is treated seriously. It arises where three or more people have assembled together and behaved in a disorderly, intimidating or provocative way, intended or likely to cause any person to reasonably fear that the assembled people will commit a breach of the peace, or will provoke others to commit a breach.
The evidence at trial showed that the men stormed a restricted area, and incited others to do likewise. Force was used to prise open closed gates, which were being guarded by security guards and police officers. The barriers around the flagpoles were pushed over and other people were encouraged to invade the restricted area.
In the melee, 10 security guards sustained injuries. Although these were not, for the most part, serious, one security officer sustained a slight fracture to his first phalanx, and had to take 39 days of sick leave.
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For as long as it remains the case that everyone is equal before the law, there cannot be one type of sentence for political activists and another for other lawbreakers. Political motivation cannot shield an offender from the consequences of his or her actions, or attract preferential treatment. What the magistrate called “idealism” can never justify violence or hooliganism.
Given their undue leniency, Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung had little choice but to invite the Court of Appeal to review the sentences, and to impose punishments which fitted the crime. He relied upon the evidence and the law. To have sat back and done nothing, perhaps out of fear of sparking protests locally or criticism internationally, would have been a dereliction of duty, and he is to be commended for standing firm.
Had Yuen not acted as he did, the wrong message would have gone out to potential lawbreakers. Other magistrates would have been asked in similar cases to treat the ruling as a precedent, which could have led the law in the wrong direction. Inaction by Yuen would have been seen as acceptance by him of an approach which, on the legal authorities, was flawed.
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The Court of Appeal has endorsed the propriety of Yuen’s application. Yet this has been overlooked by some commentators who, wary of criticising the court itself, have craftily chosen to direct their fire at Yuen instead.
Moreover, it should be noted that the court has been as lenient as the circumstances allowed. Recognition was given in the computation of sentence to the parts of the original sentences already served, as well as to the strain involved in an offender facing sentencing a second time, through no fault of his own.
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Patten, of all people, should know that the sentencing review system, introduced into Hong Kong by the colonial government in the 1970s, is an established feature of our legal landscape. Since 1988, it has also been regularly deployed by the attorney general in Britain, where he now lives, to correct errors by trial courts.
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Once he has cooled down, Patten may wish to withdraw his slur, and to give the judiciary his unequivocal support, given its valiant work in upholding the rule of law in Hong Kong.
Grenville Cross SC is a criminal justice analyst