Prosecutors won’t seek harsher sentences for ex-student leaders in HKU council meeting siege
Billy Fung and Colman Li were given 240 hours and 200 hours of community service respectively
Prosecutors have decided not to seek a review of the community service sentences handed to two former student leaders for their roles in a chaotic siege of a University of Hong Kong council meeting last year.
The decision stood in contrast with recent rulings against 16 young protesters, including three student leaders, who saw their community service sentences replaced by prison terms.
“Having considered the trial magistrate’s reasons for sentence delivered on September 21, 2017, the prosecuting counsel’s case report, the facts of the case (including whether the defendants’ conduct was premeditated, the degree of violence involved and whether any person was injured), the applicable legal principles, the defendants’ personal background and their attitude towards the offences (including whether there is genuine remorse), as well as the Prosecution Code, the Department of Justice decides not to seek a review of the sentences imposed on the two defendants,” the spokesman said.
Victim among hundreds to support former student leaders Billy Fung and Colman Li
In January 2016, Fung led hundreds of students to besiege a meeting of HKU’s governing council at the university’s Sassoon Road campus, pressing for an immediate review of the school’s governance structure.
