Thread by @XinqiSu

#JUSTIN Two HK young men in their early 20 were just now sentenced to 5 years in jail for “conspiracy to incite subversion” as members of the now disbanded activist group “Returning Valiants”. 5 other minor defendants in the same case were sentenced to training center last year.

The two young men are Choi Wing-kit, 21, and Chris Chan Yau-tsun, 26. Choi was also sentenced to 6 months in jail for "possession of offensive weapon" in a separate burglary case, among which 3 months will be running concurrently with the 5-year sentence.

The police operation between May and Sep 2021 against #ReturningValiant was the second largest group arrest under #NSL by far, following the mass round-up of 55 pro-dem politicians on 6 Jan 2021 over the allegedly subversive pro-dem camp primary election (currently in trial).

A total of 22 people were arrested between the five months, including 15 secondary school students. This also made the operate one with the largest number of under-aged persons. Among the 22 arrestees, 13 (11 students) were charged with #NSL in 2 separate cases.

The current case has 7 defendants and all pleaded guilty to the charge that can lead to 10 years in jail. Sentence for Choi and Chan was adjourned from last year to wait for the Court of Appeal to decide on questions like min sentence in #NSL trial over the Lui Sai-yu case.

Following CA's decision in "Lui Sai-yu", District Court #NSL judge Kwok Wai-kin today gave Choi and Chan each 6 months of deduction for their guilty plea.

In non national security cases, a guilty plea can normally earn an accused up to 1/3 discount.

The starting point of sentence for Choi was moved down from 6 years to 5.5 years because he was aged under 21 in the case material time. After another 6 month discount over guilty plea, Choi got 5 years over the #NSL charge.

The starting point for Chan was set at 5.5 years and he eventually received 5 years after the 6-month guilty plea discount.

Judge Kwok found the overall case and the pair's individual cases to be of "serious nature" so the minimum sentence shall apply.

The overall case was found to be "serious" because the group "advocated for bloody resistant without bottom line" and "encouraged like-minded others to carry out preparations for armed revolution". Kwok said such ideas "are absolutely not allowed to emerge".

Choi's individual case was found to be "serious" because he was the group founder and Kwok said "the only inference beyond reasonable doubt is that the idea of bloody revolution without bottom line came from him".

Chan's individual case was also found to be "serious" because for once he provided English interpretation for the group's press conference. Kwok said "it's rather clear that he was trying to promote their ideas to international members".

The other, and more serious case stemmed from the #ReturningValiant involves six students who are charged of "conspiracy to commit terrorist act", and the alternative charge of "conspiracy to cause explosion", which carries up to life sentence. Plea and sentence scheduled in May.