Hong Kong student jailed for inciting secession loses appeal against 5-year sentence under national security law
- Engineering undergraduate Lui Sai-yu, 25, was jailed in April for advocating the city’s independence and resistance against Communist Party on social media
- Legal debate centres on proper application of minimum sentences, introduced into common law system by Beijing through security legislation
The Court of Appeal on Wednesday held in a landmark ruling that judges could not impose sentences below the minimum stipulated in the national security law for serious crimes no matter how much the offender deserved a lesser penalty, except in very limited circumstances.
Chief Judge of the High Court Jeremy Poon Shiu-chor said the national security law was enacted with the primary objective of penalising acts endangering the country’s safety as quickly and effectively as possible, and that not all mitigating factors were applicable. Only those that did not undermine the expressed intention of the new law were permissible, he added.
Separately, the judge, who earlier questioned the use of legal texts in mainland China in deciphering the Beijing-imposed legislation, said local courts could indeed rely on the doctrines adopted by authorities north of the border in interpreting the security law in an apparent change of stance.
The court debate centred on the proper application of minimum sentences, which were introduced into Hong Kong’s common law system by Beijing through the national security legislation.
District Court judge Amanda Woodcock, who is among the few jurists approved by the city’s leader to oversee national security proceedings, initially imposed a prison term of 44 months after cutting a third off a starting point of 5½ years.
The reduction was in line with the Court of Appeal’s sentencing guidelines set in 2016, whereby an offender could receive up to one-third remission on the grounds of a timely guilty plea.