Top Court To Hear Appeal Of 13 Jailed Activists

Thirteen pro-democracy activists who were jailed after the government appealed against the lighter sentences they originally received over a 2014 protest at Legco have been given permission to appeal against their prison terms.

The Court of Final Appeal says a three-judge panel will look at whether the prison sentences of between eight and 13 months for unlawful assembly convictions were so heavy that they amounted to "substantial and grave injustice".

The prison terms were imposed by the Court of Appeal last August after it agreed with the government that the trial magistrate had been too lenient in giving the activists community service orders.

The protesters, who were opposing plans to develop the northeastern New Territories, tried to smash their way into the Legco building as lawmakers discussed the government's funding application for the plans.

The top court will also look at whether two of the defendants should have been given a lighter sentence because they were aged below 21 at the time of the protest.

But the judges are refusing to consider a number of other arguments raised by the protesters' lawyers, saying they either lack merit or have already been dealt with in previous court cases.

The appeal at the top court is due to be heard on September 7.

Bail was extended for all but one of the 13 – Raphael Wong from the League of Social Democrats who is in prison for another offence.