June 4 vigil breach lands Hong Kong democracy advocates in jail for up to 14 monthsEight more democracy activists in Hong Kong received sentences of as long as 14 months in jail on Monday, joining 13 other defendants who have already been thrown into prison for flouting a government ban on an annual June 4 candlelight vigil last year.Judge Amanda Woodcock, sitting in the District Court, said the deterrent sentences were appropriate as the eight posed a threat to the safety of public health by breaching the police ban, which had been imposed due to Covid-19.They wrongly and arrogantly believed the vigil was more important than public health safety, the judge said. She added that their political beliefs were not considered in the sentencing.Media tycoon Jimmy Lai, barrister and former alliance vice-chairwoman Chow Hang-tung and former journalist Gwyneth Ho, who contested their charges and were convicted after trial, remained steadfast to the end in the stance they had taken for the vigil. Lai said in mitigation that he did not join the event last year. “I lit a candle light in front of reporters to remind the world to remember and commemorate those young men and women, who 31 years ago in Tiananmen Square put truth, [justice] and goodness above their lives and died for them,” he wrote.His statement ended by saying: “May the power of love of the meek prevail over the power of destruction of the strong.”The tycoon will serve his latest sentence, of 13 months for inciting others to take part in the banned rally, concurrently with the total prison term of 20 months handed down to him for other offences of unauthorised assembly in 2019.Of the 21 jailed in the current court case, the defendant with the longest sentence, of 14 months, was Lee Cheuk-yan, former chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. Lee had pleaded guilty to organising, inciting others to take part and taking part in the June 4 unauthorised assembly, and will serve his sentence concurrently with a total of 20 months he was handed earlier for other offences of unauthorised assembly in 2019.Four others who entered guilty pleas included former alliance vice-chairman Richard Tsoi and former legislator Leung Yiu-chung. Both had committed the offences of incitement and participation in the unauthorised assembly while on court bail at the time. Tsoi was jailed for 12 months and Leung for nine months.Leung Kam-wai, a former standing committee member of the alliance, was also handed nine months, while former legislator Wu Chi-wai received four months and two weeks for his participation in the vigil.Chow and Ho, neither of whom had a criminal record at the time of last year’s vigil, were jailed for 12 months and six months respectively. Woodcock said Chow had a prominent role in the June 4 event, in sentencing her over incitement and participation.Lai, Chow and Ho submitted their mitigation pleas on Monday. Robert Pang SC, representing Lai, asked the judge in mitigation to distinguish between the peaceful unauthorised assembly in question from previous convictions of unlawful assembly involving democracy activists Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow, which had been sparked off from 2019 citywide protests and were violent. He suggested giving non-custodian or suspended sentences.Pang pointed out that the June 4 candlelight vigil in Victoria Park last year was a peaceful continuation of an annual event which had taken place for 30 years. The context of the 2020 vigil was different from the unlawful assembly in Wong’s case, which set sentencing guidelines for subsequent occurrences of unlawful and unauthorised assembly.Furthermore, Pang reminded the court that the vigil last year had been banned because of public health reasons, and this set the event apart from previous cases which were unable to go ahead due to public order and safety concerns.Pang also said the role of Lai, at 74, was minimal because he was present at the park’s water fountain plaza for only 14 minutes and did not make a speech.Chow expressed disappointment in the court’s conviction of them. “In designating the vigil as criminal, a proud tradition of Hong Kong stands condemned, signifying to the world that this city is no longer the heaven for free speech it once was,” she wrote.“If those in power had wished to kill the movement with prosecution and imprisonment, they shall be sorely disappointed. Indeed what they have done is breathing new life into the movement, rallying a new generation to this long struggle for truth, justice and democracy.”Ho’s mitigation plea comprised all of one sentence. She said in Chinese that however legally sound it was, “my sentence today is a sentence on every single Hongkonger who ever showed up at Victoria Park on June 4, 2020”.Police had estimated that some 20,000 people were present in the park that night.By Y.S Luk。