判決理由書／裁決書撮要(由AI生成)
以下撮要以AI生成及／或翻譯，內容以原來的判決理由書／裁決書為準。
The judgment noted that, due to the impact of the 2019 coronavirus pandemic and adjustments to court venues, the prosecution made two applications to consolidate trials in five riot and related charges cases involving 49 defendants: the first proposed consolidating DCCC115/2021, DCCC112/2021 and DCCC114/2021 for trial; the second proposed consolidating DCCC113/2021 and DCCC116/2021 for trial. The hearings originally scheduled were adjourned as a matter of course owing to the pandemic and then cancelled. The prosecution sought to proceed by way of written procedure, but the majority of the defendants objected, arguing that consolidation would lengthen the trial period, complicate the issues, and result in unfairness in terms of legal representation and allocation of resources. Consequently, submissions were made in writing.
The judge applied the right to a fair and public hearing under Article 10 of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights, the principles of agreement under Sections 65B and 65C of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance, and referred to the practice directions on the consolidation of cases in Cheung Wai Ching and the Court of First Instance’s principles for varying milestone dates.
The first application was refused because the existing separate schedules had already pragmatically allocated court resources, and the consolidated trial would be difficult to accommodate in terms of venue and timetable; the defendants’ objections were well-founded, and there was therefore no sufficient reason to alter the arrangements. The second application was approved, as the issues in both cases centred on common video evidence, and the newly built large courtroom and the West Kowloon Courts Centre had the capacity to accommodate the combined number of defendants, thereby saving judicial resources and judicial manpower.
He considered that, given the pandemic and resource limitations, proceeding by written procedure did not infringe the right to a public hearing; the defendants’ interests and the use of public resources should be balanced, maintaining the separate arrangement for the first application while flexibly approving the consolidation for the second application.
The bench ultimately refused the application to consolidate DCCC115/2021, DCCC112/2021 and DCCC114/2021, thereby maintaining the originally scheduled separate trials; it also approved the consolidation of DCCC113/2021 and DCCC116/2021 for trial, with the consolidated hearings provisionally scheduled from 14 August to 9 October 2023, totalling 40 days. (Translated from Chinese to English by AI)
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判刑理由書撮要(由AI生成)
以下撮要以AI生成及／或翻譯，內容以原來的判刑理由書為準。
The judgment states that on 29 September 2019, the 23 defendants in this case participated in the unauthorised “Global Anti-Totalitarianism March”, which escalated into a riot. In the Admiralty area, protesters dismantled and burned objects, blocked roads, set fires, threw petrol bombs and hard objects, and confronted the police with umbrellas, road signs, wooden boards and laser beams, causing severe traffic obstruction and public disorder. The defendants are charged with rioting, and one individual is also charged with possession of an offensive weapon.
The usual sentencing guideline for rioting is 51 months’ imprisonment, with a maximum of up to ten years; for possession of an offensive weapon, the guideline is six months’ imprisonment.
The rioting was large-scale and planned, causing serious damage and disturbance to society, requiring severe punishment to maintain social order; mitigating factors such as the defendants’ guilty pleas and age were considered for discretionary sentence reduction.
Violence is not the solution, and a clear deterrent message must be sent to society; the young defendants should bear the consequences and learn from this.
The court imposed the guideline sentence for rioting of 51 months’ imprisonment, reduced to between 32 and 46 months for each defendant depending on the timing of their guilty plea and individual circumstances; for the possession of an offensive weapon, the guideline is six months’ imprisonment, to be served consecutively with the principal offence for a total guideline of 54 months, reduced to 43 months’ imprisonment. (Translated from Chinese to English by AI)
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