HK man jailed for 5 years and 9 months for inciting secession

HONG KONG - Hong Kong's District Court sentenced activist Adam Ma Chun-man on Thursday to five years and nine months in prison for inciting secession. Ma is the second person to be sentenced under the National Security Law for Hong Kong.

Judge Stanley Chan Kwong-chi ruled that the defendant's acts were serious in nature since he intentionally incited others to split the country, and that what he did might cause others to challenge the law and become inciters as well. Also, the defendant didn't show remorse for what he did in his letter to the court, the judge added.

Ma, 31, a former food-delivery driver who had dubbed himself "a second-generation Captain America", was convicted of inciting secession on Oct 25 for chanting or making separatist statements on 20 occasions from Aug 15 to Nov 22, 2020.

In the judgment for conviction, Chan said that the defendant's "clear" political stance leaves no room for doubt that he had the intention of inciting secession.

A person's freedom and rights in a society under the rule of law are not absolute, and the destructive and subversive nature of the Ma's act is self-evident, Chan said.

The defendant has repeatedly claimed that his actions were protected rights under the Basic Law, but he clearly ignored the general principle of Article I of the Basic Law, which indicates that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is an inseparable part of the People's Republic of China, Chan said.

The first person sentenced under the National Security Law for Hong Kong was Leon Tong Ying-kit, a 24-year-old former waiter who displayed a flag with a secessionist slogan and rammed his motorcycle into police officers during a protest last year. Tong received a nine-year prison term on July 30 for inciting secession and engaging in terrorist activities.