Hong Kong court jails 8 for up to 4½ years for rioting during 2019 PolyU siege
Group is the final batch of 213 people arrested near Yau Ma Tei MTR station to learn their fate after being charged
The eight, who were earlier found guilty in the District Court on May 30, were the final batch among 213 people arrested near Yau Ma Tei MTR station to learn their fate after being charged. They were divided into 17 groups for trial over the past two years.
Following Monday’s sentencing, police said that 200 out of the 213 were convicted, while six were acquitted after trial and seven had absconded.
“It has been a very lengthy process. This case is unprecedented and complicated in the sense that it involved a large number of arrests,” said Superintendent Wong Yick-lung, of the force’s Kowloon East regional crime unit.
All 17 trials were brought to court over a span of 18 months, with hundreds of prosecution witnesses and more than 5,000 documents used as evidence, he added.
Sentences imposed earlier ranged from a period of detention at a training centre to 29 to 64 months in jail.