Hong Kong jails 3 activists over 2021 bomb plot

Three Hong Kong activists received jail terms by the High Court on Thursday for up to six years, after they pleaded guilty to charges of planning to place a bomb in court and other public buildings.

They were the last defendants in a series of prosecutions against the "Returning Valiant" group, which calls for independence from China and has urged resistance over a national security law imposed in 2020.

The charges were for plans made in 2021, after widespread pro-democracy protests.

What were the three accused of?

Ho Yu-wang, 20, Kwok Man-hei, 21 and Cheung Ho-yeung, 23, were all charged with "conspiracy to commit terrorism" under the National Security Law.

They were accused of planning to make improvised explosives devices and place them in public places, including government offices, cross harbor tunnels, police staff quarters, railways, and court buildings between April 1 and 5 July 2021. 

The three were arrested before any of the devices could be made or used, due to a police operation. Police said they raided a guesthouse room in 2021 and seized equipment believed to be used for making explosives. They also alleged Ho had written notes saying that his goal was to destabilize Hong Kong and build up a resistance group.

High Court Judge Alex Lee said the social atmosphere during Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests could "easily cloud one person's moral judgment... [and] might turn people with previously good characters into radicals."

"No matter what the defendants' purpose might have been, the plan was without any doubt an evil one," he added.

Who were the accused

Ho, who was the alleged mastermind behind the plan, was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to a charge of terrorism.

His sentence would have been set at 10 years, but Judge Lee deducted four years for his assistance to the prosecution, which helped elicit a guilty plea from Cheung.

In his mitigation, Lee heard that Ho was grateful he had been arrested, barring his plan from materializing in the end, and that he has changed his mindset and resumed his studies, particularly of Chinese history.

Cheung and Kwok, who were sentenced to six years and 30 months in prison respectively, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to "cause explosions likely to endanger life or to cause serious injury to property."

Prosecutors said Cheung had provided HK$40,000 (about €4,600; $5,120) for Ho to buy equipment and chemicals.

Four others involved in the plans were sentenced in May. A 21-year-old was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison. The other three (aged between 17 to 20) were sent to training centers.

In 2020, Beijing imposed the national security law on Hong Kong. Chinese authorities cracked down on freedoms and civil liberties after massive pro-democracy protests. Many activists, journalists and others have been imprisoned or have fled abroad.

China maintains that the security law has restored stability in Hong Kong, but some countries such as the US say it is used as a tool to crush dissent.

tg/rc (AFP, AP, Reuters)