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Brian Wong

A Hong Kong protester has been jailed for nearly four years for his role in the 2019 anti-government unrest after he was rearrested upon his return from Japan.
The District Court on Thursday sentenced Chan Wai-yiu to three years and nine months behind bars for taking part in a riot in Wan Chai on August 31, 2019.
The 27-year-old accounting firm employee was among a group of black-clad protesters who confronted police on a section of Hennessy Road, located between Fleming Road and Tin Lok Lane, that night.
According to a prosecution case summary, protesters had set fire to a makeshift barricade, defaced a signboard promoting pro-Beijing newspaper Ta Kung Pao, hurled petrol bombs and pointed laser beams at police.
Riot officers attempted to disperse the crowd by firing rounds of tear gas, sponge grenades and blue dye from water cannons.
Chan was subdued at 8.21pm shortly after police began making arrests.
A police tactical unit officer struck Chan in the legs three times with a metal baton after the protester tried to resist arrest, according to prosecutors.
Chan left for Japan in January 2020 after police decided not to charge him in the first instance.

The defendant had planned to settle in the country before he was rearrested in September 2023, when he returned to Hong Kong hoping to visit his ill mother.
He initially denied the offence before reversing his plea last Friday.
In passing the sentence, Judge Kathie Cheung Kit-yee said protesters’ use of laser pointers and other weapons showed a substantial degree of premeditation and organisation.
She slammed protesters for challenging police authority and the rule of law while rejecting the defence’s claim that Chan did not intend to directly take part in the disturbance.
The court reduced Chan’s starting sentence of five years by a quarter in light of his belated guilty plea.
Hong Kong authorities have refused to set a time frame for closing investigations into about 7,000 protesters whose fate remains in the balance after being arrested in connection with the 2019 unrest.
City leader John Lee Ka-chiu, who was deputy police commissioner before being appointed as the undersecretary for security in 2012, previously dismissed the move as “unrealistic” and contrary to the spirit of the rule of law.
Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung, a former police commissioner, also declared authorities could pursue some offenders “after 20 years”.
In Hong Kong, rioting is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, but is capped at seven years for cases heard before a district judge.


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Hong Kong courts

Protesters set fire to a makeshift barricade, hurled petrol bombs and used laser beams on police during a riot on Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, the court heard. Photo: Sam Tsang

The District Court has sentenced accounting firm employee Chan Wai-yiu to three years and nine months behind bars. Photo: Jelly Tse

Hong Kong social worker convicted of rioting in 2019 protest after retrial

Social worker Jackie Chen arrives at the Hong Kong District Court to hear the verdict on her retrial, and is greeted by supporters. Photo: May Tse

Social worker Jackie Chen has been remanded in custody. Photo: May Tse

Hong Kong protester jailed for 33 months for role in 2019 unrest after acquittal overturned

Clashes break out between riot police and student protesters at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2019. Photo: Felix Wong

The court knocked off 12 months from a starting point of a 45-month sentence in light of Johnny Lee’s guilty plea. Photo: Jelly Tse

Hong Kong court awards HK$446,000 to police inspector assaulted in 2019 protest

Protesters occupy Harcourt Road in Admiralty in 2019. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

The plaintiff Tsang Chi-on was repeatedly kicked in the head and hit by a metal rod in 2019, the court heard. Photo: Nora Tam

News

Hong Kong

Law and Crime

Chan Wai-yiu, 27, left for Japan in 2020 after initially avoiding charges, but was rearrested two years later when he returned to visit his ill mother


Chan Wai-yiu, 27, left for Japan in 2020 after initially avoiding charges, but was rearrested two years later when he returned to visit his ill mother.


Hong Kong protests

Hong Kong society