Tanya Chan's Given Two-year Suspended Jail Term

The District Court on Monday gave Civic Party legislator Tanya Chan an eight-month prison term, suspended for two years for her role in the 2014 Occupy protests.

This came after district court judge Johnny Chan considered her latest health condition following a brain surgery. Her lawyer had asked the court for suspended sentence, saying the lawmaker still needed intense treatment.

The judge had adjourned the morning session to consider the latest reports on her health condition.

In delivering the sentence, the judge said it’s an “exceptional” situation in which it’s an “interest of justice” to allow Chan to find a medical expert of her own choice for the treatment.

He also said she’ll need her family members to take care of her. A “brain surgery is not something that one should take lightly” he said.

Chan was found guilty along with eight others in April, but her sentencing was postponed on the grounds of her health condition after doctors advised an urgent surgery to remove a brain tumour.

"Not all of the tumour inside Tanya’s brain has been removed. She needs special treatment in the coming 3 months and she needs assistance in daily life...a suspended jail term should be considered,” her lawyer had told the court on Monday.

The court also heard that Chan must do further treatment in the coming months or the tumour may grow again.

It also heard that she will need more treatment by radiotherapists as well as neurosurgeons and these specialists have said it is suitable to do these sessions five times a week.

The prosecution stressed that the Correctional Services would ensure people in custody are provided with appropriate medical care and that they will refer cases to public hospitals if further treatment is needed.

After hearing both sides, the judge Johnny Chan said he needed time to study the situation and adjourned the court.

In April, the court had locked up four pro-democracy leaders for terms varying from eight to 16 months over the 2014 Occupy protests, while sparing another four custodial sentences.

Co-founders of the Occupy Movement, Benny Tai and Chan Kin-man, received the lengthiest sentences – 16 months in jail – for conspiracy to cause a public nuisance, while fellow movement leader Chu Yiu-ming, 75, was given a suspended prison term in light of his health and age.

The Occupy protests paralysed parts of the SAR for 79 days in late 2014, as students, activists and other members of the public took over key roads in Admiralty, Central, Causeway Bay and Mong Kok, calling for genuine universal suffrage.

Prominent student leaders of the protests Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow spent time in prison for unlawful assembly offences over the storming of Civic Square just before the street occupations began.

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