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Student jailed for 6 months over plan to unfurl banner featuring Hong Kong sculpture created to mark Tiananmen Square crackdown

  • Magistrate says defendant was a ‘participant in an international campaign’ and banner was capable of stirring up anger
  • Zeng Yuxuan, 23, had sentence reduced from nine months to six to reflect her early guilty plea

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A student has been jailed for sedition after she planned to unfurl a banner featuring the controversial Pillar of Shame sculpture. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

A Hong Kong court has jailed a mainland Chinese student for six months for sedition over a plan to display a large image of a sculpture created to commemorate the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

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Zeng Yuxuan, 23, was on Tuesday back at West Kowloon Court to be sentenced for attempting or preparing to commit a seditious act, a day after she admitted the offence.
Principal Magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen said Zeng’s scheme to unfurl the nine-metre-tall (29-foot-tall) banner on the June 4 anniversary of the crackdown could have triggered strong emotions among like-minded individuals, especially as it was a “sensitive” date.

He highlighted the involvement of Danish artist Jens Galschiøt and former Tiananmen student leader Zhou Fengsou in the offence.

A student has been jailed for six months at West Kowloon Court after she admitted a charge of sedition. Photo: Jelly Tse
A student has been jailed for six months at West Kowloon Court after she admitted a charge of sedition. Photo: Jelly Tse

Law said they had given Zeng the banner, which could provoke hatred of the Chinese government.

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