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Chung had entered a plea cut price, admitting guilt on the cost of secession and one depend of cash laundering and pleading not responsible to a sedition cost and one other cash laundering accusation.
The plea led to a 25% discount in his sentence, to 40 months for secession and 18 months for cash laundering. Solely three months of the latter might be served individually, leading to a complete sentence of 43 months.
“He actively organized, deliberate and carried out actions to separate the nation,” District Courtroom Decide Stanley Chan mentioned.
Prosecutor Ivan Cheung has mentioned the defendant acted as an administrator for the Fb pages of the US department of Studentlocalism and a company known as the Initiative Independence Social gathering.
Professional-independence T-shirts, flags and books had been additionally seized from his dwelling, the prosecutor mentioned. The cash laundering cost was associated to donations he obtained by way of PayPal.
Like different anti-government organizations, Studentlocalism disbanded earlier than Beijing imposed the safety legislation in June 2020, to punish something it deems as subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with overseas forces with as much as life in jail.
For the reason that enactment of the safety legislation, Hong Kong has taken a swift authoritarian flip, with most democratic politicians now in jail or in self-exile. Dozens of civil society organizations have folded, and a few worldwide rights teams have left town.
Chinese language and Hong Kong authorities deny the safety legislation tramples particular person rights and say the laws was needed to revive stability after mass avenue protests in 2019.
The previous British colony returned to Chinese language rule in 1997 with the promise of a excessive diploma of autonomy. Democracy activists and a few Western governments say China broke that promise — an allegation that Beijing vehemently denies.
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