4 University of Hong Kong student leaders face maximum of 7 years in jail if convicted over motion praising July 1 knife attack on police officer
- The defendants – the first to be charged with advocating terrorism under the Beijing-decreed national security law – will stand trial in a higher court
- HKU motion expressed sadness over the death of a man who stabbed a police officer in Causeway Bay on anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China
Four University of Hong Kong student leaders accused of promoting terrorism by passing a motion lauding a knife attack on a police officer face up to seven years in jail if convicted, after their impending trial was moved to a higher court.
Former student union president Charles Kwok Wing-ho, 20, student union council chairman Kinson Cheung King-sang, 19, residential hall representative Chris Todorovski Shing-hang, 18, and Arts Association representative Anthony Yung Chung-hei, 19, returned to West Kowloon Court on Friday for a second pretrial hearing.
They were the first to be charged with advocating terrorism since the Beijing-imposed national security law – which also bans acts of subversion, secession and collusion with foreign forces – took effect on June 30 last year.
The four also face an alternative charge under local legislation of incitement to wound with intent.
Acting chief magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen granted a prosecution request to move the trial to the District Court and asked the defendants to indicate their pleas in the next hearing at that venue on October 28.
The defendants were each said to have played a part in passing a motion on July 7 expressing appreciation for the “sacrifice” of Leung Kin-fai. Leung stabbed a police constable in Causeway Bay on the July 1 anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover from British to Chinese sovereignty before fatally turning the blade on himself.