Hong Kong court rejects bid to increase sentence for student who protested against national anthem bill in 2020, warning of ‘double penalty’
- Prosecutors applied for heftier sentence for Lee Man-kei for his role in protest against March of Volunteers and security laws
- Lee, 24, is due to complete 120 hours of community service for taking part in unlawful assembly and assaulting police officers
A Hong Kong appeal court has dismissed a bid by prosecutors to increase the punishment for a student who has nearly completed his sentence for his role in a protest against the national anthem and security laws two years ago, warning the move could amount to a “double penalty”.
Student Lee Man-kei appeared before the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, days before he was due to complete the remainder of his 120 hours of community service over the coming weekend.
Prosecutors applied for a heftier sentence for the 24-year-old, who was convicted of taking part in an unlawful assembly and two counts of assaulting a police officer in Mong Kok on May 28, 2020.
While the three presiding judges agreed the original punishment was inadequate and that the offences called for jail time, they found it inappropriate to resentence the accused at a time when he was about to put the case behind him.
Lee is the first person who has been spared heavier punishment in the Court of Appeal after being found guilty of charges relating to the social unrest that began in June 2019 over a now-withdrawn extradition bill.
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The same court had previously granted all of the Department of Justice’s 19 sentencing review applications. Twenty of the 23 defendants in the cases received custodial sentences after they were initially spared such penalties.
Lee was found to have joined dozens of protesters in an illegal gathering at the junction of Nathan Road and Argyle Street in the early hours of May 28, 2020.
The day before the incident, the Legislative Council resumed a second reading of the national anthem bill, which outlaws insults to March of the Volunteers. The bill was seen by some as a curb on freedom of expression.
Protesters had also expressed their discontent with Beijing’s decision earlier that month to impose a national security law on the city. The legislation ultimately went into effect on June 30 that year.
During Lee’s trial last year, Magistrate Andy Cheng Lim-chi dismissed the 24-year-old’s claim he had hurled hard objects at two police officers under the misconception that they were “black-shirted rioters”, and ruled that he must have shared the protesters’ intention of disturbing public order.
Having considered the student had spent 5½ months in custody for breaching bail conditions, Cheng accepted a term of community service and regular psychiatric treatment were enough to deter him from committing further offences.
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On Tuesday, prosecutor Andy Lo Tin-wai argued the magistrate had erroneously given too much weight to the time the accused had spent behind bars before arriving at an “unduly lenient” sentence for the offences, which in principle warranted jail time.
But Mr Justice Derek Pang Wai-cheong, one of three judges on the bench, said he worried that an increased sentence would be unfair to Lee, who had already served 116 hours of community service and was set to complete the remainder on Saturday.
He cautioned that imposing a heavier sentence when the defendant had almost completed the original one could result in a “double penalty”.
Pang agreed the magistrate had “erred in principle” and passed an “unreasonable” sentence, but said the court would decline the application in light of the overall circumstances.
The court, also presided over by justices Maggie Poon Man-kay and Anthea Pang Po-kam, will explain its decision in writing in due course.
