Court of First Instance of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

“ The date of 1 July 2020 was of particular importance as it was the first day of implementation of the NSL, a law which was promulgated in light of the “increasingly notable national security risks in the HKSAR . . . [in] particular, since the onset of Hong Kong’s ‘legislative amendment turmoil’ in 2019, anti-China forces seeking to disrupt Hong Kong have blatantly advocated such notions as ‘Hong Kong independence’, ‘self-determination’ and ‘referendum’, and engaged in activities to undermine national unity and split the country” [5] . ”

“ We do not consider taking the secessionist nature of the political agenda into account would involve any double counting of this factor. For count 1, the secessionist meaning of the Slogan was the basis of the offence of incitement and was pivotal to the commission of the offence in count 1. As such, it is therefore not considered as an aggravating factor. For the offence in count 2, the political agenda could be secessionist in nature, or otherwise, but if it is the former, then there is the added criminality as explained above. ”

“ We consider this to be a matter which we should take into account in sentencing the Defendant for the offence of terrorist activities.
37. Needless to say, whoever carries out terrorist activities with a view to intimidating the public in order to pursue political agenda, whatever that is, should be condemned and punished, but when the political agenda is secessionist in nature, it is our view that there is an added criminality in that such an agenda is seeking to undermine national unification. ”