Hong Kong protests: trio gets stiffest jail sentence of up to 5½ years for airport assault, judge laments challenges faced by low-level judicial officers
- Three suspects, found guilty of rioting and assaulting a mainland Chinese journalist at the airport in August 2019, were jailed for up to five years and six months
- District Judge Clement Lee says grass-roots level judges face ‘difficult situation’ amid higher court’s criticism and reform calls by politicians
A Hong Kong judge on Friday handed down the stiffest jail sentence yet on protest-related cases, as he lamented how lower-level judicial officers were caught “in a rather difficult situation” amid criticism from the appeal court and politicians’ demands for reform.
District Judge Clement Lee Hing-nin found deterrent sentences were needed in this serious instance of riot, involving “uncivilised behaviour” that “brought disgrace on Hong Kong”, as it had occurred at the international airport, a city landmark and gateway to the world.
While hearing mitigation, Lee said the incident had “broken many Hongkongers’ hearts” as the city had always been peaceful, and the court would have to consider the overall impact on the community.
How Hong Kong airport protests ended in chaos
Defence counsel Edward Chan argued it was not just the fault of the trio – two men and one woman, aged between 20 and 30 – when the riot had occurred after months of unrest since June 2019.