10 Hong Kong fugitives receive jail sentences over illegal border crossing

Ten Hong Kong fugitives were sentenced from seven months to three years in jail for illegal border crossing or organizing the illegal crossing, Yantian District People's Court in Shenzhen announced on Wednesday.

The 10 were among 12 people who fled Hong Kong in a speedboat in an attempt to reach Taiwan and escape legal responsibility for their role in Hong Kong's social unrest last year. They were intercepted by the mainland's Coast Guard in mainland waters on Aug 23.

The two others were minors who the Shenzhen authorities said would not be prosecuted and were returned to Hong Kong police on Wednesday.

All of the 12 face criminal charges in Hong Kong including colluding with external forces to endanger national security, manufacturing or possession of explosives, and intentionally assaulting others.

Among the 10 prosecuted on Wednesday, eight were convicted of illegally crossing the border and sentenced to seven months imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 yuan ($1,530) each. Tang Kai-yin and Quinn Moon were convicted of organizing the attempt. Tang was sentenced to three years in prison and fined 20,000 yuan. Quinn received a two-year jail sentence and was fined 15,000 yuan.

The 10 pleaded guilty to the charges against them. According to a report in Shenzhen Special Zone Daily, several defendants said at the court that the fair and just trial made them realize that they had seriously misunderstood the mainland's law enforcement and judicial system, and they felt remorse for what they had done.

The court heard that Tang and Quinn were commissioned by others to plot the attempt, according to a statement by the court on Wednesday. Tang bought the speedboat that the group fled in and piloted the boat.

In the early hours of Aug 23, the group gathered at Po Toi O pier in Sai Kung and stocked the speedboat with food, fuel and other necessities, the court heard. When they left around 7 am, Quinn reminded the group that if they were intercepted by authorities, they should say that they were fishing, the report reads.

It is clear that the Shenzhen authorities have only convicted them of offenses related to the illegal border crossing into the mainland, said Hong Kong lawmaker and solicitor Holden Chow Ho-ding. The sentencing of the 10 fugitives is legal and just, and the treatment of the two minors reflected leniency and care, he said.

This incident has sent an important message to the people of Hong Kong, especially those awaiting trial, that everyone shall be held legally responsible for breaking the law and that absconding comes at a price, Chow said.

Tam Yiu-chung, a Hong Kong member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said some Western politicians have made "unfair accusations" about the trial. Their demand for the "immediate release" of the 12 was an act of interference in the internal affairs of another country and showed blatant disrespect for the mainland's judicial system, said Tam.