Hong Kong man, woman jailed on sedition charges for insulting judges, advocating independence
- Property manager Kim Chiang, 41, is the second person to be jailed under the colonial-era sedition law since China resumed sovereignty over the city in 1997
- The third, former vocational school clerk Chloe Cho Suet-sum, 46, was jailed just hours later over an unrelated case
A man and a woman were jailed on sedition charges on Monday, the former for conspiring to distribute leaflets advocating Hong Kong independence, and the latter for putting up posters insulting the judges in the city’s first national security trial.
Property manager Kim Chiang Chung-sang, 41, was sentenced to eight months in prison by a magistrate at West Kowloon Court on Monday morning, while former vocational school clerk Chloe Cho Suet-sum, 46, was jailed for 13 months at the District Court hours later.
The two are the second and third defendants to be imprisoned under the colonial-era sedition law since China resumed sovereignty over the city in 1997.
Cho’s co-defendant, 17-year-old secondary school pupil Wong Chun-wai, was also ordered to undergo up to nine months of correctional training.
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Explaining his decision to jail Cho in lieu of a fine, District Judge Kwok Wai-kin said the sentence must have a deterrent effect, as required by the national security law, noting the pair’s offence was “very close” to that of inciting secession under the Beijing-imposed legislation. The latter charge is subject to a maximum prison term of 10 years.
Kwok noted that even a young defendant could face immediate imprisonment, citing the case of Tsang Tak-sing, the former secretary for home affairs who had been jailed for two years as an 18-year-old for distributing seditious fliers in support of the leftist riots of 1967.
But the judge said he had spared Wong jail in light of the genuine remorse he demonstrated after spending 90 days in remand while awaiting trial.
Cho and Wong each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to print, publish, distribute, display or reproduce seditious materials in connection with 101 leaflets seized in Wan Chai on December 11, 2020.
The leaflets, designed by Wong and placed by Cho in front of various shops and on a footbridge, advocated the establishment of a “Federal Republic of Hong Kong” and the city’s own army in a bid to “regain the dominating power” and “resist Communisation”.
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Contrary to Cho’s contention, Kwok found the articles to be capable of inciting violence, given their clear indication that people should “take the law into their own hands”, and given the risk of reigniting the unrest of 2019.
Separately, at West Kowloon Court on Monday, acting chief magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen jailed Chiang, the property manager, for eight months, noting the defendant had challenged the rule of law and excited disaffection with the judiciary by cursing the three judges who oversaw Hong Kong’s first national security trial in June last year.
The defendant’s attempt to revive anti-government sentiments just as public order was restored in the city, as well as his decision to display the provocative messages at a local kindergarten, which could corrupt the minds of children, reflected the gravity of the case, Law said.
Others were degrading to judges who adjudicated proceedings that stemmed from the protests or the security law, including those who presided over the trial of Leon Tong Ying-kit.
Three High Court judges jailed Tong, a 24-year-old restaurant worker, for nine years for terrorism and inciting secession after he rammed his motorcycle into a group of police officers while flying a flag that called for the city’s “liberation” during the annual July 1 protest in 2020.
The three judges overseeing Tong’s trial – Esther Toh Lye-ping, Anthea Pang Po-kam and Wilson Chan Ka-shun – were depicted as “Communist dogs” in two of the five posters Chiang displayed at the kindergarten and a public toilet at the High Court, with a line that said they and their families would “definitely go to hell”.
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Sedition is an offence under the Crimes Ordinance punishable by up to two years in jail upon a first conviction. The Court of Final Appeal has ruled the offence is one capable of endangering national security, meaning prosecutors can ask the court to apply a higher threshold for granting bail, and arrange for cases to be heard before a judge hand-picked by the city leader to handle such cases.
Both Kwok and Law were chosen by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to adjudicate security law proceedings.
Waitress Hui Pui-yee, 26, became the first person to be sentenced for sedition since the 1997 handover, receiving a three-year jail term for charges of conspiracy to commit a seditious act and conspiracy to incite others to commit arson for facilitating a doxxing campaign against police and officials during the 2019 protests.
