HomeTop NewsWorldJoshua Wong jail term reduced by two months

Joshua Wong jail term reduced by two months

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Joshua Wong Chi-Fung, a jailed Hong Kong opposition activist, has won an appeal to have his 10-month sentence reduced by one-fifth for his role in a prohibited Tiananmen Square vigil two years ago.

He will, however, face a national security law case in 2020 for his alleged role in an unofficial Legislative Council primary election, for which he was denied bail.

Wong was sentenced to ten months in prison in May after confessing to taking part in an unauthorised gathering at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay on June 4, 2020, an offense punishable by up to five years in prison.

The candlelight vigil drew roughly 20,000 people, according to the District Court, despite authorities banning the annual gathering for the first time since 1990 because of concerns about the possibility of Covid-19 infections.

Judge Stanley Chan Kwong-chi remarked during Wong’s sentence for his role in the vigil that his guilty plea was the only mitigating aspect because he had “openly defied the law” with his deliberate and premeditated engagement.

Wong’s lawyer, Steven Kwan Man-wai, accepted that imprisonment was justified in this case, but maintained that Chan had issued a “manifestly excessive” sentence.

Before considering the use of a one-third discount in consideration of Wong’s timely guilty plea, Kwan argued that a more acceptable starting point for punishment would have been 11 months, rather than the 15 months ordered by Chan.

However, acting senior assistant director of public prosecutions William Siu Kai-yip argued that the sentence was “totally justified,” claiming that Wong was a repeat offender who had played a “very active” role in the incident while on court bail, giving interviews and posting photos to social media.

Wong also organized and incited others to join the 15-hour siege of police headquarters four days after his release from prison in June 2019, for which he was sentenced to in December 2020, according to Siu.

“He repeatedly disregarded the law,” Siu said, claiming that Wong took part in an anti-mask rally in October 2019 and broke a government-imposed ban on facial coverings, for which he was sentenced to further four months in April.

The prosecutor also stated that Chan was correct in directing the 10-month sentence to run concurrently with the previous two jail terms because the three cases were separated by time and objective.

However, the higher court agreed with Wong and granted his appeal.

Jannelle Rosalynne Leung, a 27-year-old former district councillor who served her sentence in July, also fought her four-month sentence but was unsuccessful.

The court will explain its decision in a judgment that will be issued at a later date.

Image Credit: Getty

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