Top court wait in guilty-plea sentence fight

The court of final appeal yesterday held a hearing for a 26-year-old university student after he was denied a one-third sentence reduction for pleading guilty to breaching the national security law.

The top court said it will hand down a written verdict later.

Lui Sai-yu, who was attending Polytechnic University at the time of his offense, pleaded guilty in a district court to inciting secession under the national security law and was imprisoned for five years as his crime was categorized as being of a "serious nature."

He was not given a one-third discount - a common practice for defendants who plead guilty, though the length of the reduction varies.

Lui is expected to be released in January. If he wins the appeal, he is expected to be released immediately.

The case was heard by a five-strong panel comprising Chief Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung, permanent judges Roberto Ribeiro, Joseph Fok and Johnson Lam Man-hon, along with non-permanent judge Patrick Chan Siu-oi.

Senior counsel Robert Pang Yiu-hung said it was unfair to sentence defendants to at least five years under the security law regardless of their pleas, remorse or mitigation factors.

Pang said if there are two defendants found guilty under the same charge, one with remorse and another without, it would be unfair to hand down the same sentence to both of them.

He said the five-year term should be adopted as the starting point, instead of the lower limit of Lui's jail term.

It is "impossible" for law drafters to impose a limit on the lowest term as it will make it hard for a judge to reflect the mitigation factors in his or her sentence, he added.

Anthony Chau Tin-hang, deputy director of public prosecutions said the five-year limit for national security law breaches of a serious nature should apply to their final sentence, rather than the starting point of their sentence.

He said there are only three conditions that can reduce a sentence: a voluntary discontinuance of the crime; a self-surrender; or one reporting an offense by others.

In a murder case, he said, the killer gets life regardless of mitigating factors, and the sentence of national security law breachers must carry a deterrent effect.