Hong Kong national security law: High Court judges in first sentencing reject prosecution call to follow legal principles from mainland China
- Judges are set to pass the first sentence under Hong Kong’s national security law – on Leon Tong, convicted this week of terrorism, inciting secession
- Tong, 24, faces maximum sentence of life imprisonment for riding his motorcycle into police while carrying a flag calling for city’s ‘liberation’
Among the works they cited was a reference book – by Zhang Shuyuan, a judge at China’s highest court – explaining the conditions laid out in the constitution for setting lighter penalties and reducing sentences.
Such publications could best reflect the legal concepts and legislative intent of the national security law when it was imposed by Beijing a year ago, according to the prosecution.
But the three judges hearing Tong’s case said they were not bound by authorities in other jurisdictions and would instead follow established protocols under local legislation when determining sentence.
Tong, 24, appeared again before the judges, who were hand-picked by the city’s leader, as his lawyers put forward mitigation on his behalf ahead of Friday’s sentencing.
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Man found guilty in Hong Kong’s first national security law trial
