判刑理由書撮要(由AI生成)
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The judgment stated that this case began during the 2019 anti-extradition bill movement. After the police imposed a siege on the Polytechnic University campus, around a thousand protesters clashed violently with the police on Nathan Road and Gascoigne Road, with bricks, petrol bombs and various tools scattered at the scene. Ten defendants were charged with rioting, two of whom were also accused of possessing offensive weapons. After the trial, all except one were convicted.
The maximum penalty for rioting is ten years’ imprisonment. Court of Appeal precedents have established a starting point of five years for sentencing collective violence, which can be increased according to the severity of the offence or reduced at the court’s discretion.
The purpose of the sentence is to deter protesters from challenging the rule of law and public order through collective violence such as petrol bombs and vandalism; the defendants’ youth, remorse and lack of prior convictions are only minor mitigating factors that do not affect the sentencing guidelines.
The judge held that upholding public order and the rule of law is fundamental, and that youth cannot diminish the deterrent effect of punishment; defendants must bear equal responsibility for serious rioting behaviour.
Defendants one and two were each sentenced to 56 months’ imprisonment; defendants four, five, six and seven each received 50 months; defendant nine received 48 months; defendant ten, after a credit for pleading guilty, was sentenced to 44 months; the sentences for the weapons and rioting offences are to be served concurrently; defendant eight was acquitted and released. (Translated from Chinese to English by AI)
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