- Title: Hong Kong legal chief denies political motive in jailings as criticism mounts
- Date: 18th August 2017
- Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (AUGUST 18, 2017)(REUTERS) HONG KONG NEWS STAND
- Embargoed: 1st September 2017 12:13
- Keywords: Hong kong legal chief denies political motive reactions jailed democracy protest leaders
- Location: HONG KONG AND BEIJING, CHINA
- City: HONG KONG AND BEIJING, CHINA
- Country: Hong Kong
- Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0016UOO2TH
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Hong Kong's legal chief denied any "political motive" in seeking jail for three young pro-democracy activists on Friday (August 18), responding to a Reuters report that he had overruled other legal officials who had initially advised against pursuing the case.
An appeals court on Thursday (August 17) jailed three leaders of the Chinese-ruled city's democracy movement, Joshua Wong, 20, Alex Chow, 27, and Nathan Law, 24, for six to eight months, dealing a blow to a youth-led push for universal suffrage. Several protests by their supporters are planned in coming days.
They had been convicted of unlawful assembly related to months of mostly peaceful street protests that gripped the city in 2014 but failed to sway Communist Party rulers in Beijing in their call for full democracy.
The trio had already been sentenced last year by a district court in the former British colony to non-jail terms including community service, but the Department of Justice applied for a review, seeking jail terms. Reuters reported that Justice Secretary Rimsky Yuen had ignored the advice of several senior prosecutors in the Department of Justice in pushing for jail terms.
China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said in response to the sentences that "no one can use the excuse of so-called democracy and freedom to carry out illegal violent acts".
But the sentencing has stoked broader international fears for Hong Kong's constitutionally enshrined freedoms, part of a "one country, two systems" deal under which the British returned the territory to China in 1997, as well as perceptions of political meddling. Hong Kong enjoys a free, highly respected judiciary, unlike on the mainland where the Communist Party controls the courts which rarely challenge its decisions. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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