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How did judges hand down the prison sentences handed down in the Hong Kong 47 case?

Posted on by L. Dreeye
How did judges hand down the prison sentences handed down in the Hong Kong 47 case?

sentences passed to former opposition activists in Hong Kong’s landmark national security case on Tuesday were proportionate, not too lenient and not too harsh, given the court’s ruling that the plot they hatched undermined national security and amounted to wishful thinking overthrow the governmentsome legal experts said.

Experts contacted by the newspaper also said the verdict has unique circumstances that should not set a precedent for punishment in future subversion or national security trials.

In the city’s largest and longest national security trial to date, 45 defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from four years and two months to 10 years for conspiracy to commit subversion. Two more defendants were acquitted by the court in May.

Thirty-one of the 45 people pleaded guilty and 14 others were convicted in May for their roles in a 2020 plot to overthrow the government by winning a majority in the Legislative Council and indiscriminately voting on budgets and other bills to trigger a constitutional crisis.

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Hong Kong 47: ‘Mastermind’ Benny Tai sentenced to 10 years in prison for plotting to overthrow the government

Hong Kong 47: ‘Mastermind’ Benny Tai sentenced to 10 years in prison for plotting to overthrow the government

The court sentenced former Hong Kong University (HKU) law professor Benny Tai Yu-ting, who it said was a “revolutionary” and mastermind of the scheme, to 10 years in prison as a principal offender under Section 22 of the National Security Act 2020.

Grenville Cross, barrister and former director of public prosecutions, said: “There are 45 sentences and while some seem lenient, others seem quite right.