- Hong Kong waiter Tong Yingjie was sentenced to nine years in prison.
- He was convicted under China’s new national security law.
- He was the first person to be convicted in accordance with the law.
On Friday, a Hong Kong waiter was sentenced to nine years in jail after he became the first person to be convicted under the new national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong to stop dissent.
Tong Ying-kit, 24, drove a motorcycle into three police officers on Tuesday and hoisted a protest flag at a rally on July 1, 2020 (the day after the National Security Law was promulgated) He was convicted of separatism.
Watch | The first trial of the Hong Kong National Security Law is underway
The trial was a watershed, setting a new mark for the city’s changing legal environment and confirming that certain banned political slogans are now being sentenced to long prison sentences.
The Tang flag is flying with the words “Recover Hong Kong, Revolution of the Times”, a slogan that was ubiquitous in the large-scale and often violent democratic protests that swept Hong Kong two years ago.
His trial was conducted without a jury-which is very different from the common law tradition in Hong Kong-and three judges personally selected by the city’s leaders decided to try national security crimes.
terrorism
Read | Hong Kong National Security Law: Five Key Facts You Need to Know
On Tuesday, the judges ruled that Tong had violated a terrorism charge by driving a bicycle into the police, and that the flag he hoisted could “incitate the secession of the country.”
They sentenced him to 8 years in prison for the first crime and 6.5 years for the second crime, but said that he could serve his sentence at the same time for some time, resulting in a total of 9 years in prison.
The ruling will have a profound impact on future national security cases.
More than 60 people have been charged under the law, including some of the city’s most well-known democracy activists, such as Jimmy Lai, the owner of the now-defunct Apple Daily.
Most people are now in prison awaiting trial.
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