This is the 835th issue of One Day in Hong Kong
The former convener of the "Hong Kong independence" organization was sentenced to 43 months in prison
Chung Han-lam, the former convener of the "Hong Kong independence" organization Student Dynamics, pleaded guilty to separatism and money laundering and was sentenced to three years and seven months in prison today (November 23). The outside world has noted that this case is the third conviction case since the implementation of Hong Kong's national security law, and Zhong Hanlin, now 20, is the youngest defendant.
The prosecution alleges that after the implementation of the National Security Law, Zhong Hanlin promoted "Hong Kong independence" through social platforms, including more than 1,000 posts with "intention to split the country". At the same time, he also sold clothes with the words "Hong Kong independence", attached payment platform PayPal account links to social platform posts to collect illegal funding, and the accounts involved in the case collected a total of more than HK$130,000.
Previously, Zhong Hanlin also urged the United States to sanction the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and central government officials, and repeatedly instigated Hong Kong students to demonstrate on the streets after the 2019 legislative amendment storm.
On July 29, 2020, Zhong Hanlin was arrested. After being granted bail, Zhong Hanlin suddenly and mysteriously "disappeared" on October 27 of the same year and failed to report to the police station on time according to the conditions of bail. The police then arrested him again, and after investigation, Zhong Hanlin went to the US Consulate General in Hong Kong and Macao that morning and unsuccessfully sought "political asylum." According to US media reports, in addition to Zhong Hanlin, there were four other people who entered the US consulate in a group on the same day, one of whom was a US citizen, they met with the consulate officials, but the officials told them that they did not have any protection and asked them to leave.
The defendant in the first case of the National Security Law appealed and the hearing began on Friday
The defendant in the first conviction of Hong Kong's National Security Law, Tang Yingjie, a 24-year-old local man, is accused of driving a motorcycle to storm a Hong Kong police line on 1 July 2020 and injuring three police officers, driving a motorcycle with a banner clearly defined as inciting separatism slogans.
In July 2021, three Hong Kong National Security Law-designated judges, Du Libing, Peng Baoqin and Chen Ka-shin, jointly convicted Tang Yingjie of "inciting separatism" and "terrorist activities" and sentenced him to nine years in prison and 10 years of driving disqualification.
In August of the same year, Tang Yingjie appealed to the Court of Appeal of the High Court of Hong Kong for two convictions and sentences. According to public information from the Hong Kong judiciary, Tang Yingjie's appeal will be heard at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, November 26, while the formal hearing is subject to further scheduling.
In Hong Kong's judicial practice, the so-called "hearing" means that before a case enters a public trial, the court first listens to the complaints of all parties, including the parties to the litigation. Hearings are generally conducted in private, and all persons unrelated to the case are not allowed to attend the hearing.
According to public information on the Tang Yingjie case, with regard to the crime of "inciting others to split the country," the Hong Kong High Court's Court of First Instance pointed out that the case was "serious" for three reasons: Tang Yingjie deliberately violated police instructions to storm the defense line, deliberately chose the day of the anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, and deliberately chose the first day after the Hong Kong National Security Law came into effect. The court stressed that Tang Yingjie's behavior was clearly a deliberate challenge to law and order, and the social impact was extremely bad.
However, it is worth noting that the court's sentencing of Tang Yingjie for this crime is by no means the "top sentence" rendered by some Hong Kong media, but considering that Tang Yingjie committed the crime alone, and the flags and slogans used on that day belonged only to "general appeals", Tang Yingjie himself did not publicize any detailed plan of "splitting the country" to the public, so he only sentenced Tang Yingjie to 6 years and 6 months in prison.
In fact, according to Article 21 of Hong Kong's National Security Law, those who commit "incite others to split the country" and commit serious circumstances are punishable by imprisonment for not less than 5 years but not more than 10 years.
Don't forget that Tang Yingjie also has a "terrorist activity crime" on him. The Court of First Instance of the High Court of Hong Kong held that Tang Yingjie's case fell under section 24 of the National Security Law as a "serious endangerment to public health or safety by other dangerous means". According to Article 25 of Hong Kong's National Security Law, "other circumstances" are punishable by particular imprisonment for a term of not less than 3 years but not more than 10 years.
The terrorist activities carried out by Tang Yingjie were aimed at splitting the country, and tang Yingjie caused 3 police officers to be injured in the case, and under the condition that a number of additional sentence requirements were met, the Court of First Instance of the Hong Kong High Court finally ruled that Tang Yingjie was punished for both crimes, with a total sentence of only 9 years, and the 10-year driving ban was also enforced at the same time as imprisonment.
Considering the heinous nature of the case itself, Tang Yingjie's sentencing in the first instance cannot be described as unrestrained, and even in a sense has a hint of hope that Tang Yingjie himself can be influenced. Even so, Tang Yingjie still has to appeal on the charges and the sentencing itself, and some Hong Kong media are still hyping up how "harsh" the conviction in this case is.
On the one hand, it must be admitted that in Hong Kong, as a society that applies case law, how to convict and sentence the first case of the National Security Law has a certain decisive role in the handling of subsequent similar cases, so there must be a multi-party struggle above the Tang Yingjie case, and Tang Yingjie's appeal request that seems to "kick his nose in the face" is not difficult to understand, because this is actually beyond the scope of his personal judicial rights and interests. But on the other hand, the ambiguous arguments of some media in Hong Kong society, especially the "sympathy" for Tang Yingjie, show that such a bad case can produce counterintuitive differences just because of certain ideological factors, and it can only be said that Hong Kong's national security education still has a long way to go!
Nie Dequan called on civil servants to vote enthusiastically on December 19 to create a better future for Hong Kong
The Secretary for Civil Service of the Hong Kong SAR Government, Mr Nie Tak-kuen, said on November 23 that civil servants are the backbone of the SAR Government, and in the past two years, Hong Kong has experienced multiple blows of the legislative amendment storm, the black riots and the new crown epidemic, and the vast majority of members of the civil service team have made great efforts and dedication.
Nie Dequan pointed out that with the promulgation and implementation of the Hong Kong National Security Law by the central government, the improvement of the election system of the SAR, and the implementation of the principle of "patriots governing Hong Kong," Hong Kong has opened a new era of "transformation from chaos to governance, governance by governance, and rejuvenation." The issues of economy, people's livelihood, and development have yet to be implemented, and the work burden faced by civil servants will not be lighter than in the past.
He pointed out that the training of civil servants will be strengthened at full speed, and the establishment of the Hong Kong Civil Service College next month will help to systematically increase the intensity of training, and through the optimization of training facilities and courses, the civil service team will be more able to cope with various challenges and improve the quality of services.
In addition, Nie Dequan stressed that next month 19 is the voting day for the Legislative Council election under the improvement of the election system, and he called on civil servants to vote enthusiastically to build and create the future of Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Customs seized suspected smuggled cigarettes worth HK$76 million
According to Hong Kong media reports, the Hong Kong Customs destroyed a suspected smuggled cigarette storage warehouse in Tuen Mun on November 22, seizing about 27 million cigarettes, with an estimated market value of about HK$76 million, and suspected of evading tariffs of 52 million yuan.
Customs officers also arrested a 31-year-old man involved in the case and seized a light passenger van involved in the case. The case is still under investigation. Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department will continue to investigate the source and whereabouts of this smuggled cigarette, and it is not excluded that more people will be arrested.
Under the Dutiable Goods Ordinance of Hong Kong, any person who handles, possesses, sells or buys smuggled cigarettes is an offence and, upon conviction, is liable to a maximum fine of HK$1 million and imprisonment for two years.