Five teenagers who belonged to a Hong Kong organisation that supported independence from Chinese rule were given a maximum three-year prison sentence on Saturday in a case concerning national security for making calls for an ‘armed revolution’. Although some of the five were minors between the ages of 15 and 18, they all acknowledged to ‘inciting others to overthrow governmental power’ through an organisation named ‘Returning Valiant’.
At a later date, sentences will be handed down for two more, aged 21 and 26. Justice Kwok Wai-kin detailed how the defendants had called for a ‘bloody revolution’ to overthrow the Chinese government at street booths as well as on Facebook and Instagram after the enactment of a comprehensive national security law implemented by China. Because of the defendants’ ‘age and immaturity,’ rather than putting them to prison for the alleged incitement, Kwok instead sentenced them to a training centre or juvenile detention institution.
The decision to set a three-year maximum detention is up to the penitentiary administration. Four of the five had already been held in detention for more than a year, and just one of the five received bail. According to the prosecution, when the police searched an industrial building, they discovered flags, fliers, air weapons, ammunition, and extendable batons. In 2017, authorities detained at least 22 individuals who were associated with the group.
Numerous persons are accused of various terrorism-related offences under the security statute. Officials in Beijing and Hong Kong assert that the security law has restored tranquilly to the global financial centre following significant anti-government and pro-democracy demonstrations in 2019. Concerned that the law is being used to impede fundamental freedoms, human rights experts on the UN Human Rights Committee called for its repeal in a report published in July.
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