A Hong Kong man has been handed a two-month suspended sentence over inciting others to boycott the “patriots-only” District Council election in December.
Man Wing-fung pleaded guilty to breaching the city’s election laws at Fanling Magistrates’ Court on Monday morning. The 38-year-old analyst programmer had been accused of engaging in illegal conduct after sharing a social media post on October 31 that incited others not to vote, according to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
Acting Principal Magistrate Peony Wong said she considered Man’s clean record and that the shared post had limited reach, according to local media reports. But she said the case was still serious and sentenced him to a two-month jail term suspended for 18 months – meaning Man will not serve the sentence unless he commits an offence within that period.
The court heard that the post – containing a link to a live video – was originally published by a YouTube political commentator named Wong Sai-chak. Wong, better known as Martin Oei, is from Hong Kong and now lives in Germany. In the video, Wong called on viewers to boycott the newly-restricted December election.
The ICAC charged Man in December, five days before the patriots-only election, and issued an arrest warrant for Wong in December. The watchdog said that the two men were suspected of breaching the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance, which governs “activity in public” during election periods.
Before the judge handed down the sentence on Monday, the defence said Man’s post had not yielded any comments and did not have much exposure. There was no evidence suggesting that the post had disrupted the elections, and Man also did not add write anything when sharing the post, the defence added.
First ‘patriots’ District Council election
Hong Kong held its first District Council election last December after an overhaul that slashed the number of directly elected seats and required candidates to secure nominations from government-appointed committees.
The elections recorded a record-low turnout of 27.5 per cent, the lowest among all post-colonial elections in the city. The figure marked a sharp contrast to the 71.2 per cent turnout in the last District Council elections in 2019, when pro-democracy candidates saw a landslide victory amid the anti-extradition protests and unrest.
Two years ago, the city revised its election laws – enforced by the ICAC – to make it illegal for anyone to encourage others not to vote, to spoil their ballot, or to leave it blank.
Violators face up to three years behind bars and a fine of HK$200,000 for minor offences. Cases heard in a magistrates’ court, Hong Kong’s lowest court, are punishable by a maximum jail term of two years for a single offence.
A total of seven people, including Man, were arrested over allegedly inciting others to boycott the patriots-only election. One of them – Yeung Sze-wing, a clerk – has also been charged. She will return to court next Monday, local media reported.
Among the seven arrests were three members of pro-democracy party League of Social Democrats, who were apprehended by police on election day while making their way to a protest outside the polling station where Chief Executive John Lee was slated to cast his vote. The activists’ case was handed over to the ICAC for investigation.
They were released on bail and have not been charged.
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