HK judges unanimously dismissed the appeal, ruled minimum penalty of 5-years is mandatory
A jailed university student who pleaded guilty to inciting secession in Hong Kong lost his bid to reduce his five-year sentence in a court ruling Tuesday that is expected to set the bar for other cases brought under the national security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong.
Lui Sai-yu pleaded guilty in April 2022 and admitted that content on a Telegram channel he administered incited others to separate Hong Kong from China or alter the legal status of the city unlawfully.
But his timely guilty plea did not get him a one-third reduction in the length of his imprisonment — as in many other cases under Hong Kong’s common law system — because the security law imposed minimum jail terms for serious offenses.
Lui is one of some 260 people who were arrested under the security law as Beijing tried to crush dissidents following the massive protests in 2019. The top court’s ruling on his appeal may guide sentencing in other national security cases, including for the city’s most prominent democracy leaders who also pleaded guilty.
