Hong Kong veteran activist Koo Sze-yiu sentenced to 9 months in jail for planning to display coffin bearing slogans outside Beijing’s liaison office
- Koo, unfazed by judge’s ruling, vows to become a ‘martyr’ for democracy and human rights despite the risk of jail
- ‘I have no regrets for the path I took. I shall rise again every time I fall, without the least bit of repentance,’ 75-year-old says
Veteran Hong Kong opposition activist Koo Sze-yiu has been jailed for nine months for attempting to protest against the Chinese Communist Party ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics earlier this year.
A magistrate, hand-picked by the city leader to oversee national security cases, on Tuesday convicted the 75-year-old based on a colonial-era sedition law for planning to publicly display a handcrafted coffin emblazoned with slogans and political demands, a protest routine he had established over his years of activism.
The defendant appeared unfazed at the verdict at West Kowloon Court, as he vowed to become a “martyr” for democracy and human rights despite the risk of jail following the adoption of the national security law.
“I have no regrets for the path I took. I shall rise again every time I fall, without the least bit of repentance,” he said in his mitigation statement. “Democracy and human rights are above everything. The rights of a human are bigger than a country.”
Koo, who has 14 previous convictions, is expected to be eligible for early release next month, having been remanded in custody since February because of the present case.
Hong Kong activist Koo denies attempting seditious act against Beijing Olympics
The veteran activist was charged with attempting to or preparing to commit an act or acts with seditious intention, which is punishable by up to two years in jail for a first offence under the Crimes Ordinance.
Known for carrying a handmade coffin to protests to show his disapproval of Beijing, Koo had never faced a sedition charge until a crackdown by police’s National Security Department earlier this year.
Officers raided Koo’s flat in Cheung Sha Wan in the early hours of February 4 and seized a wooden coffin with the words “human rights are above the Winter Olympics” written on it.
Koo also wrote slogans on the prop denouncing the Beijing-decreed national security law, as well as calling for the “defeat” of the Communist Party and the end of one-party dictatorship in mainland China.
The activist told investigators he had intended to lift the coffin outside Beijing’s liaison office that day to protest against the central government, knowing that his act would probably contravene the law imposed by Beijing in June 2020.
Principal Magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen on Tuesday upheld the constitutionality of the sedition law, echoing a ruling four months ago by a judge presiding at the first sedition trial in the city since the handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997.
Veteran Hong Kong activist Koo Sze-yiu denied bail in sedition case
Law held that all the five slogans concerned, when viewed as a whole, went beyond mere criticism of Beijing and bore an intention to change the constitutional status of the party and even overthrow it.
“According to China’s Constitution, the Communist Party assumes a specific position and role in [the country’s] constitutional order. Any attempt to alter or topple the party’s constitutional status will, without a doubt, undermine national security,” the magistrate said.
A slogan on the coffin that purported one could “get rich” by “eating faeces” under the national security law was also seditious, Law said, as it sought to portray the law as evil and dent people’s confidence in the local judicial system.
In dismissing a judicial challenge by the defence, the magistrate said the law had struck a balance between safeguarding the country’s safety and social order and protecting personal rights.
He also considered Koo’s prosecution proper, noting authorities had been lenient in levelling a sedition charge against him while the activist said he was expecting to face a more serious national security offence over his actions.
While sedition is not among the crimes listed under the national security law, it has been classified by the city’s top court as an offence endangering national security. The law targets acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.
