BREAKING: University of Hong Kong ex-student leaders jailed 2 years each over mourning death of man who stabbed police officer
Hong Kong Free Press
Four former student leaders of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) have been jailed for two years each for incitement to wound over a controversial motion they passed to mourn a man who stabbed a police officer before taking his own life in July 2021.
HKU students Kinson Cheung, Charles Kwok, Chris Todorovski and Anthony Yung, who were remanded in custody last month, appeared before judge Adriana Noelle Tse Ching for sentencing at District Court on Monday.
The four were originally charged with advocating terrorism, an offence under the national security law which could have seen them sentenced to 10 years behind bars if convicted. They were set to plead not guilty and faced an eight-day trial.
But prosecutors agreed to let the students plead guilty to an alternative charge of incitement to wound with intent, which is punishable by up to life imprisonment, although jail terms meted out by the District Court are capped at seven years.
The four pleaded guilty to incitement to wound with intent in September, and were taken into custody to await sentencing. The terrorism charge was dropped.
‘Martyr’ motion
The charge relates to statements made at a student union council meeting on July 7, 2021, when the student body passed a resolution to mourn the death of Leung Kin-fai, a man who killed himself shortly after stabbing a police officer outside a mall in Causeway Bay on the anniversary of Hong Kong’s Handover from British to Chinese rule.
Authorities condemned the incident as a “lone-wolf local terrorist act,” which left the officer with a 10-centimetre-deep wound and a lung injury.
The court heard that the defendants praised Leung’s actions at the meeting and described him as a “martyr.” Cheung, who was chairman of the council time, allegedly led meeting attendees in observing a moment of silence for Leung’s “honourable sacrifice.”
The motion was withdrawn within days, after the Hong Kong government and the university issued statements blasting the students for “beautifying blatant violence” and “glorifying violent attacks.” Kwok, then-president of the student union’s executive committee, apologised publicly and said members of the student body would step down.
The group was arrested and charged that August under the national security law. The legislation, which criminalises secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference, was imposed by Beijing in June 2020 following months of protests and unrests that began in the summer of 2019 over a controversial extradition bill.
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