The High Court on Friday sentenced three former leaders of the group behind the June 4th vigils in their subversion case.

Chow Hang‑tung of the now‑defunct Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China was imprisoned for seven years and three months.

Lee Cheuk‑yan got a seven-year sentence, while Albert Ho was jailed for five years and two months.

The alliance was fined HK$1.5 million.

The court heard that the group continued to promote its agenda, including "end one‑party dictatorship" after the National Security Law (NSL) was implemented in July 2020.

In sentencing, judges Alex Lee, Johnny Chan and Anna Lai found the incitement to subversion offence to be of a serious nature, even though there was no violence involved or any specific means of implementation or timetable was put forward to "end one-party dictatorship".

The judges cited six reasons as to why the offence was deemed to be of a serious nature, among them the turbulent social atmosphere at the time, the continuation of the defendants' activities for as long as 14 months after the NSL's implementation, and their mobilising power and influence in Hong Kong.

"The Court reiterated that the NSL had no retrospective effect and that the defendants were put on trial not because of their political ideology or their words and deeds before the NSL," they wrote.

"They were convicted solely on the basis that they had committed acts in violation of the NSL during the charge period."

Under the NSL, those who committed offences of a "serious nature" face five to 10 years in jail, whereas offences of a "minor nature" would lead to prison terms of less than five years.

The judges said the three defendants had all served on the alliance's standing committee and "their culpability was essentially the same", and adopted seven years and six months’ imprisonment as the starting point.

All three received a three-month sentence discount with the defence "having substantially admitted the prosecution case, thereby saving considerable trial time and public funds" as well as "the repeated postponements of the trial due to unforeseen circumstances which would have caused them a certain degree of psychological stress".

Lee Cheuk‑yan and Ho each received an additional three-month discount for their long public service.

Ho's sentence was further reduced by 22 months for his guilty plea after the committal proceedings.



Edited by Edmond Fong