判決理由書／裁決書撮要(由AI生成)
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The judgment states that on 29 September 2019, Defendant 1 and Defendant 2 participated in a riot outside the Government Headquarters in Admiralty, Hong Kong. Protesters blocked roads, set fires, threw petrol bombs and traffic cones around Harcourt Road, Tim Mei Avenue and Queensway, and attacked government buildings while confronting the police. After multiple warnings, the police deployed tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowd, and ultimately at 16:48 the pair were subdued and arrested respectively on Harcourt Road and at the entrance of the Government Headquarters. Defendant 1 was holding an umbrella, wearing black clothing and a mask, and carrying concealed equipment; Defendant 2 was wearing a black vest, long trousers and gloves, with leaflets hidden in his backpack. The court held that both knowingly remained in the riot and assisted other protesters, thus finding them guilty.
According to section 19 of the Public Order Ordinance, the maximum penalty for riot is imprisonment for ten years; the court must determine the sentence based on the defendant’s specific role in the riot, the use of violence and the extent of disruption to public peace.
The defendants, aware that the protest had escalated into a riot, nevertheless remained in the riot area and used umbrellas for cover or to occupy roads, carried protective gear and leaflets, thereby inciting violence and undermining public order; harsher penalties are necessary to serve as a warning to society.
Defendant 1 made false statements about their course of action, rendering their testimony unreliable; Defendant 2 failed to provide evidence in his defence and offered no reasonable explanation. Their actions satisfied the statutory elements of riot, posed a serious threat to public safety, and should not be dealt with leniently.
Defendant 1 and Defendant 2 were each sentenced to three years’ imprisonment as a form of punishment and deterrence. (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 the twelve defendants participated on 29 September 2019 in an ‘Anti-Authoritarian Grand March’ from Causeway Bay to outside the Government Headquarters in Admiralty. During this period, over five hundred demonstrators gathered on Harcourt Road and the flyover, blocking the road with iron boxes and traffic cylinders, and threw petrol bombs, bricks and other hard objects. They used large rubber-band slingshots, laser pointers and an umbrella formation to confront the police, and damaged and set fire to water-filled barricades. The police’s use of tear gas and water cannons to disperse them was ineffective until at 4:48 pm, when officers charged forward, dispersed the crowd and arrested the defendants.
This bench adopts five years and four months’ imprisonment as the sentencing benchmark for the offence of rioting, referring to the sentencing principles in the cases of Leung Tin-kei, Yeung Ka-lun and Tang Ho Yin.
It was considered that the riot was prearranged, with around five hundred participants, involving the throwing of petrol bombs and hard objects and arson, at the heart of government operations, causing serious disruption to public order; the defendants carried equipment such as umbrellas, walkie-talkies and cut-resistant gloves, indicating their level of participation was not the lowest. A discretionary discount is given to those who plead guilty early, and a slight reduction is granted to those with work obligations.
Rioting poses a severe threat to the rule of law and public safety. Immediate imprisonment is necessary to demonstrate punishment and deterrence, and to uphold social order and the core values of the rule of law.
The court sentences: Defendant 1 to five years and three months’ imprisonment; Defendants 2, 5, 6 and 9 each to four years’ imprisonment; Defendants 3, 4, 7 and 10 each to fifty months’ imprisonment; Defendant 8 to fifty-one months’ imprisonment; Defendant 11 to four years’ imprisonment; and Defendant 12 to sixty-two months and two weeks’ imprisonment. (Translated from Chinese to English by AI)
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