Five teenagers with a Hong Kong On Saturday, a group advocating independence from Chinese rule was ordered by a judge to jail for up to three years in a correctional facility, for inciting an “armed revolution” in a criminal case. national security project.
Five people, some of whom were minors between 15 and 18 at the time of the alleged crimes, pleaded guilty to “inciting others to overthrow state power” through a group called “Back Valiant”.
The sentences for two more people, ages 21 and 26, will be delivered at a later date.
Justice Kwok Wai-kin detailed how the defendants advocated a “bloody revolution” to overthrow the Chinese state at street stalls and on Instagram and Facebook after adopting a national security law imposed by China.
Kwok called the alleged behavior a serious crime, but still took their “age and immaturity” into account when he sent them to a training center, or youth detention facility. years, instead of prison.
The length of stay, limited to three years, is left to the discretion of the correctional authorities.
“Even if only one person is provoked by them, Hong Kong’s social stability and the safety of its residents could be seriously threatened,” Kwok added.
“There is no direct evidence that anyone was instigated by the defendants to overthrow state power, but this real risk persists.”
Four of the five have been detained for more than a year, with only one released on bail.
Prosecutors Anthony Chau and Stella Lo had previously told the court that the group’s pamphlets mentioned the French and Ukrainian Revolutions as examples of successful armed uprisings, and quotes Mao Zedong of a revolution as “an act of violence by one class to overthrow another”.
Prosecutors detailed how police seized flags, flyers, air guns, ammunition and stretchable batons in an industrial building.
At least 22 people linked to the group were arrested last year. Some face charges of plotting terrorism under security laws.
Authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong say the security law restored stability to the global financial hub following mass anti-government and pro-democracy protests in 2019.
However, human rights experts from the United Nations Commission on Human Rights called for the law’s repeal in a July report, amid concerns that the law was being used to suppress fundamental freedoms. copy.
