The defendant in Hong Kong's national flag insult case was sentenced to 20 days in prison
[Global Network Report] A 21-year-old man in Hong Kong was sentenced to a 200-hour social service order for insulting the national flag in Sha Tin New Town Plaza last year. After the Attorney General applied for a sentence review, the High Court changed the sentence to 20 days in prison on April 24. Hong Kong media such as "Wireless News" reported on the 25th that the Department of Justice welcomed the decision of the Appeals Tribunal.
According to reports, the Department of Justice of Hong Kong welcomes the High Court ’s Appeals Tribunal to reiterate the CFA ’s authoritative opinion on the legislative purpose of the insult of the national flag and the main thrust of the complaint. The legitimate interests of the national flag for territorial integrity, and clarify the sentencing principles and factors to be considered for the crime of insulting the national flag.
The report stated that although the Appeals Tribunal stated that it was not necessary to impose sentencing guidelines on the crime of insulting the national flag, it emphasized that the court must examine the degree of insult to the national flag by the defendant ’s conduct when sentencing.
Hong Kong media reported that on September 22 last year, the defendant was suspected of damaging the national flag and throwing it into the pool and the Shing Mun River. He earlier pleaded guilty to insulting the national flag and was sentenced to a 200-hour social service order. The Department of Justice considered that the sentence was too light and failed to reflect the criminal responsibility, and applied to the High Court to review the sentence and appealed for a sentence of imprisonment. The Court of Appeal of the Hong Kong High Court issued a written judgment on the 24th, stating that the defendant ’s insulting the national flag was bad, severely degraded the dignity of the country represented by the national flag, and sentenced the defendant to 20 days ’imprisonment.
The verdict stated that the purpose of the local legislation of the National Flag Law was to protect the national flag from insults in order to safeguard the legitimate interests of the national flag, a symbol of national dignity, unity and territorial integrity. When sentencing the crime of insulting the national flag, the legislative purpose of the relevant provisions and the gist of the prosecution need to be considered. In 1999, the final court had shown in a case that the prosecution is comprehensively protecting the national flag from insult. Sentencing should also include consideration of obstruction Intimidating penalties.
The Appeals Tribunal emphasized that the immediate imprisonment of the accused was the only sentence choice. The trial judge made a principled mistake in sentencing and did not fully grasp the relevant circumstances of the case and various factors for the increase in sentence. The Appeals Tribunal finally took 120 days of imprisonment as the starting point for sentencing, and believed that the benchmark for sentencing should not be less than 4 months, but considering Luo pleaded guilty, has completed 64 hours of social services, and sentence review has always been a remission of the sentence, the final sentence was 20 days' imprisonment.