A Hong Kong court has dismissed an appeal by the head of a now-dissolved pro-independence political party, ruling that minimum sentences apply to all conspiracy offences under the national security law even when the penalty is not explicitly provided.
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The Court of Appeal on Tuesday handed down a judgment that rejected Joseph John’s request to review his five-year jail sentence for conspiracy to incite secession through the publication of offensive content on the social media platforms of the Hong Kong Independence Party.
The three presiding judges found the lower District Court had correctly labelled the case as serious, warranting a jail term of at least five years for the 42-year-old under a two-tier sentencing regime.
The appellate court also weighed in on a high-profile trial of 47 opposition activists, while setting a benchmark over a contentious topic surrounding the Beijing-decreed legislation which could affect the outcome of other proceedings.
John, a UK resident who holds a Portuguese passport, was denied a full one-third reduction of his 6½-year sentence which would otherwise be awarded to defendants pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity.
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The national security law stipulates a prison sentence of five to 10 years for a serious offence of inciting secession, but provides no express mechanism for penalising a conspiracy to commit the crime.
Prosecutors levelled the charge by invoking the national security law and the colonial-era Crimes Ordinance, which outlines the principles for sentencing conspiracy offences. One requirement is that sentences should match the gravity of the substantive crime.