Hong Kong protests: man convicted of desecrating Chinese flag becomes second to see sentence go from community service to jail time
- Judge’s decision to toughen sentence follows an April appellate court ruling that imprisonment was only appropriate punishment
- Tang Chi-lok, originally ordered to perform 240 hours of community service, will instead spend five weeks in jail
Tuen Mun Court on Friday upped the protester’s sentence to five weeks’ jail at a review requested by government prosecutors, who argued the initial punishment had been manifestly inadequate.
In changing her sentence, acting principal magistrate Cheung Kit-yee said she underestimated the gravity of the offence when she ordered Tang Chi-lok to perform 240 hours of community service on April 15 for desecrating the Chinese flag during a September demonstration.
Tang was filmed burning the flag that hung outside Tuen Mun Town Hall on September 21, before tearing it apart and trampling on its shreds, the court was told. He pleaded guilty to the charge in January.
On Friday, prosecutor Margaret Yu Kwok-wai said the previous sentence was wrong in principle, because Cheung had overlooked the fact the offence involved a persistent desecration of a government-owned flag, and that the defendant’s possession of a blowtorch at the protest scene indicated premeditation.