First Case Convicted under National Security Law

Tong on his motorcycle with the slogan on the flag

 

As Edgar Cheung Ka-long, the 24-year-old is walking on air relishing his gold medal performance yesterday in the Tokyo 2020 Games, another 24-year-old is contemplating the possibility of life in prison.

Three judges appointed by the Hong Kong Chief Executive found Leon Tong Ying-kit guilty of inciting separatism by displaying a flag on his motorcycle that said: "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times" as he rode up and down the streets during a July 1 rally last year in Wan Chai.

Tong crashed into three police officers July 1

The judges also ruled the former waiter caused great harm to society by inflicting grave injuries on three police officers who tried to block him after he ignored repeated warnings to stop.

Justice Esther Toh Lye-ping said they were satisfied the slogan was capable of inciting others to commit secession.

"When the defendant displayed the slogan in the manner he did, he intended to communicate the secessionist meaning of the slogan to others and he intended to incite others to commit secession by separating the [Hong Kong Special Administrative Region] from the [People's Republic of China]," Toh said.

The three judges also found Tong's failure to stop at the police check lines, eventually crashing into three officers, was "a deliberate challenge mounted against the police, a symbol of Hong Kong's law and order".

The defence had countered the collision was accidental, and that the slogan was ambiguous, and did not necessarily carry a political message.

Defence council Grossman said it was an accident

However the judges only needed to find the slogan was capable of inciting secession and not definitively without a reasonable doubt to convict Tong.

On Thursday the court will hear mitigation, during which defence council Clive Grossman, SC, will present "quite a lot of letters from people" who will plead leniency on his client's behalf.

Nevertheless, as this is the first test case of the national security law, the prosecution will be looking for a heavy sentence to set a precedent and warning to all.

No doubt this conviction will accelerate people's desire to leave Hong Kong, though Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor claims not to care...