Hong Kong: Jailed Student Loses Final Appeal

Facts

• Hong Kong's Final Court of Appeal on Tuesday unanimously dismissed Lui Sai-yu’s bid to reduce his five-year jail term. The university student pleaded guilty to inciting secession in April 2022.¹
• The five-judge panel ruled that the security law imposes a minimum five-year sentence for serious offenses, further stressing that a guilty plea isn't a mitigating factor in the law as the conditions listed in Article 33 are exhaustive.²
• Under that article, offenders may have their jail sentence reduced under three conditions — when they voluntarily stop committing the offense or voluntarily and effectively preempt its consequences, when they surrender themselves and give a sincere account of the crime, and when they assist in solving other cases.³
• Arrested in September 2020, Lui was initially sentenced to 44 months in prison following a one-third reduction due to his guilty plea. The ruling, however, was amended after the prosecution argued his crime was more serious.⁴
• Liu, whose Telegram channel carried protest slogans against China, is the fourth person jailed under the security law.⁵
• This decision comes ahead of several more national security trials, including a case against dozens of politicians and activists who pleaded guilty to subversion charges for their involvement in an unofficial primary election in 2020.⁶

Sources: ¹Associated Press, ²Hong Kong Free Press HKFP, ³Independent, ⁴VOA, ⁵FOX News, and ⁶South China Morning Post.

Narratives

• Pro-China narrative, as provided by China Daily. Hong Kong has begun to bring illegal and violent activities carried out by anti-China forces to an end, but there's still a long way to go. It is vital to tackle covert actions that amount to unconstitutional soft resistance, which can equally undermine the situation.
• Anti-China narrative, as provided by Asia Sentinel. Beijing's puppet government in Hong Kong increasingly argues that “soft resistance” must be cracked down to safeguard national security, but it remains unclear what the expression means. This vague concept could be used to deepen repression against ordinary citizens —ultimately prohibiting speech and thinking the authorities dislike.

Predictions