Youngspiration Duo Sentenced To A Month In Prison

A Kowloon City Magistrate on Monday sentenced disqualified localist lawmakers Sixtus Leung and Yau Wai-ching to four weeks in prison, for storming a Legco meeting in November 2016, saying what they did had “directly damaged the legislature’s integrity”.

Three political assistants of the pair were also convicted of the same charge and were also given four-week jail terms.

All of them were granted bail pending appeals. But three of them, including Yau, then told the court they won't be appealing and were sent to jail.

The pair from Youngspiration were convicted of unlawful assembly last month, for trying to force their way into a meeting to retake their oaths of office. They were at the time banned from Legco meetings for failing to take oaths properly.

Yau who said in the previous hearing that she would not make any mitigation pleas, changed her mind and asked not to be put in jail.

She said she had reflected on her behaviour and realised she had not thought carefully before speaking or taking action, and had failed to be a good example for the public. She also said she hopes to spend more time with her ailing parents.

Leung did not make any mitigation submissions. But he said in a Facebook entry posted before the sentencing that it’s unrealistic to rely on judges to uphold human rights because Hong Kong does not have full democracy.

In sentencing, magistrate Wong Sze-lai said the two had not shown any remorse.

The magistrate said it was a serious case because their action was premeditated, and, despite security guards’ repeated verbal warnings, they had used violence which resulted in some security guards being injured.

The magistrate also said the defendants were not exercising their constitutional rights when they used violence, adding that the sentences had nothing to do with their political beliefs.

The magistrate said the sentences must show deterrence, as well as reflect the public’s concerns, worries and disgust over the use of violence.

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