Hong Kong protests: 5 students get up to 59 months’ jail for rioting, flouting mask ban during turmoil at Chinese University
- Group of students convicted earlier over Sha Tin campus clashes, which broke out nearly two years ago during some of the worst violence of the 2019 unrest
- Nursing student Foo Hoi-ching remains defiant during mitigation, says riot charge against her is political tool to suppress dissent
Five current or former Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) students have been jailed for up to 59 months each for rioting and flouting a ban on wearing masks at public gatherings during a violent protest on the campus almost two years ago.
Sentencing the five at West Kowloon Court, Deputy Judge Kathie Cheung Kit-yee said the defendants must have chosen to remain at the scene either to take part in the violence or abet the criminal acts of their comrades.
The lack of evidence over the defendants’ level of involvement was no reason to reduce their jail sentences, she said, because all participants in a riot shared the same culpability regardless of their roles in it.
“Hong Kong is a place which upholds the rule of law, and a peaceful and tranquil community which shows no tolerance towards aimless acts that seriously disturb the peace, especially those targeting law enforcement officers,” Cheung said.