Hong Kong court reduces ‘excessive’ jail terms of 4 students who praised attack on police

Court of Appeal finds trial judge had set too high a sentence and reduces university students’ jail terms from two years to 15 months

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The site outside Sogo in Causeway Bay where a man stabbed a police officer in 2021. The attacker, who later killed himself, was praised by the defendants. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 6:17pm, 13 Sep 2024Updated: 6:32pm, 13 Sep 2024

A Hong Kong appellate court has quashed the “manifestly excessive” sentences imposed on four university student leaders for praising a knife attack on a police officer in 2021, reducing their two-year jail terms to 15 months.

The Court of Appeal on Friday found the trial judge had set the starting point of sentence too high when she assessed the culpability of the four defendants from the University of Hong Kong (HKU).

High Court’s Chief Judge Jeremy Poon Shiu-chor, who oversaw the hearing alongside two others, warned the offence remained a “very serious” attempt to incite violence which warranted an immediate custodial sentence.

The court is expected to provide its full reasons for the decision within three months.

Former HKU student union president Charles Kwok Wing-ho, ex-student union council chairman Kinson Cheung King-sang, former residential hall representative Chris Todorovski Shing-hang, and ex-arts association representative Anthony Yung Chung-hei have served up to a year behind bars after they pleaded guilty to a charge of incitement to wound with intent.

They admitted to passing a motion at a student union council meeting in 2021 lauding the “honourable sacrifice” of 50-year-old Leung Kin-fai, who stabbed a constable before committing suicide a week earlier on the July 1 anniversary of the city’s return to Chinese rule.