Hong Kong legal professionals and political experts on Wednesday called the jail sentences given to activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung and his two associates “appropriate” but “more lenient than expected”.
They also hope it would serve as a warning for youngsters that lawbreaking has consequences.
The response came after a court jailed Wong, 24, for 13-and-a-half months for his role in the siege of the police headquarters in Wan Chai on June 21 last year. Two of his associates, Ivan Lam Long-yin, 26, and Agnes Chow Ting, 23, were sentenced to seven and 10 months’ imprisonment, respectively.
On June 21, 2019, thousands of protesters surrounded the police headquarters for 15 hours demanding the government scrap the now-withdrawn extradition bill. Some radicals threw eggs at the building and painted graffiti on its walls.
Barrister Lawrence Ma Yan-kwok said the sentences are within range, but “more lenient” than he thought. “I had expected a term of about 15 months at least for Wong,” he said.
The chairman of Hong Kong Legal Exchange Foundation Lawrence Ma Yan-kwok said he believes the sentences will have a strong deterrent effect on those who break the law.
Lau Siu-kai, a sociologist and vice-chairman of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, agreed that the sentences will have a deterrent effect.
He said these young activists have created the illusion among young people that illegal acts like participating in unlawful assemblies are glorious and tolerable.
Lau predicted that some Western countries and Japan may criticize the sentences as the three have been glorified as “freedom fighters”, and Chow is regarded as a “political icon” and popular in Japan.
But he thinks a growing number of Hong Kong residents can distinguish between right and wrong, and realize the serious consequences arising from last year’s social unrest.
But, Willy Fu Kin-chi, a law professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, said he thinks the sentences lack a deterrent effect.
The sentences, he said, failed to reflect the seriousness of the cases and the negative impact of the defendants’ conduct.
Noting that the lenient sentences may mislead young people to violate the law, Fu urged the Department of Justice to appeal against the sentences.
