1st protester to be convicted of 'riot' has been sentenced to 4yrs in prison. Long sentence considering 1) he didn't injure anyone, 2) he threw stuff like an umbrella & a helmet & 3) he plead guilty. (Average #FishballUprising 'riot' sentence was abt 3yrs)
s.nextmedia.com/realtime/a.php…
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This is by far the longest sentence yet of all 15 #HK protesters sentenced to prison & shows how problematic the 'riot' offense under the Public Order Ordinance is: if the defendant is convicted of a discrete offense simply based on an act he committed, the sentence would be less
Fx, if he's convicted of assault or possession of offensive weapons, that's based on a discrete act. But w riot, the offense is compounded & the defendant is held legally responsible for the whole situation in which he finds himself, not just for his own actions.
In what just world does pushing police barricades & hurling two umbrellas, a helmet & an unknown object merit 4 years in prison? And there are 591 other 'riot' trials in the pipeline, & none of those other have, like this young man, plead guilty. 592x4=nearly 2,400yrs in prison.
Problematic: judge admits arriving at the 4yr sentence by taking into account the extent of the overall violence involved, not just the defendant's actions. (Actually on June 12, there was negligible protester violence; it mostly came from the police.) news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/compon… 
You can also compare this 4yr sentence for throwing 2 umbrellas, a helmet & 1 other object to the 45mo sentence a pro-CCPer recently got for stabbing 3 people w a knife & injuring one severely at Tseung Kwan O #LennonWall. Something seriously out of whack with the 'riot' offense.
