NEARLY SIX YEARS FOR INCITING SECESSION
‘Second-generation Captain America’ shows no remorse for chanting pro-independence slogans as sentence met with shouts from public gallery
A former food delivery worker has been jailed for five years and nine months under Hong Kong’s national security law for inciting secession by chanting proindependence slogans at protests and advocating the stance in interviews.
Adam Ma Chun-man returned before the District Court yesterday, two weeks after he was convicted by a judge hand-picked by city leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to oversee proceedings stemming from the Beijingimposed legislation.
The 31-year-old had called himself a “second-generation Captain America”, in reference to a prominent protester dressed as the superhero during the 2014 Occupy movement and the Mong Kok riot in 2016.
Explaining the sentence, Judge Stanley Chan Kwong-chi said he found the security law violation serious enough to warrant at least five years behind bars, as the defendant repeatedly incited others to separate Hong Kong from China and failed to display “the least bit of remorse” – something Ma himself acknowledged.
Chan tacked on even more time to reflect Ma “wantonly denigrating the national security law” and “misleading others into thinking he did not break the law with his nonsense”.
“The defendant did not commit the offence out of momentary impulse. He always came prepared and advocated his stance aloud. He even posed as a ‘second-generation’ Captain America. The gratification of doing all these was written all over his face,” the judge said.
Still, after setting a starting point of six years in prison, Chan knocked three months off, saying Ma had saved the court’s time by agreeing to most parts of the prosecution’s case.
The security law stipulates a minimum jail term of five years for incitement offences of a serious nature. The District Court can pass jail sentences of up to seven years.
From the bench, Chan also instructed prosecutors to take action against audience members who shouted from the gallery that the sentence was “too long” and “insane” as the decision was being read out, though no one was immediately questioned by authorities after the hearing.
Ma stood accused of promoting separatism on 20 occasions between August 15 and November 22 last year by using expressions such as “Hong Kong independence, the only way out”, “Hongkongers, build our country” and “Liberate Hong Kong; revolution of our times” – a rallying call of the anti-government protests two years ago.
In mitigation, defence counsel Edwin Choy Wai-bond yesterday described Ma as an isolated individual in society who had few friends and achievements. He said his client had sought companionship through interacting with protesters in a series of shopping centre demonstrations.
The defendant always came prepared and advocated his stance aloud STANLEY CHAN, DISTRICT COURT JUDGE
The lawyer urged the court to consider the offence as one of a minor nature and pass a jail term of less than five years, pointing to the lack of meaning in the defendant’s actions.
But Chan refused, saying Ma’s actions could have provoked others to resort to radical ways.
In a letter to the court, Ma said he had been inspired by jailed activist Edward Leung Tin-kei, and felt that he bore a responsibility to achieve the latter’s aspirations for independence.
“Your Lordship, I do not feel any shame, nor do I have the least bit of remorse for what I have done in the past. I also promise that I will not display the slightest bit of weakness in the fight for democracy and justice,” he added.
Amnesty International deputy secretary general Kyle Ward called yesterday’s ruling “outrageous”, and urged the Hong Kong government to stop criminalising “mere acts of expression”.