Former activist Joshua Wong sentenced to 10 years for collusion

Former Demosisto secretary-general Joshua Wong has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in the High Court for conspiring to collude with foreign countries and external forces.

30-year-old Joshua Wong, currently serving a sentence for the 35+ subversion case, was escorted by a prison van to the High Court.

He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit collusion with foreign countries or with external elements to endanger national security.

The charge stated between July and November 2020, Joshua Wong conspired with former Demosisto chairman Nathan Law

and other affiliates, to request foreign or external institutions and organisations to impose sanctions, blockade, or other hostile actions against the PRC or HKSAR.

According to agreed facts of the case, prior to the enactment of the National Security Law, the defendant, Nathan Law, and their affiliates had embarked upon a campaign, known as the 'International Battlefront', calling for adverse interference by foreign countries in order to achieve their own political aims.

Notwithstanding the promulgation of the NSL, they did not change their intention but persisted in their efforts to collude with foreign governments or external elements, deliberately adjusting their respective roles.

Individuals based overseas blatantly called for sanctions and hostile measures, whereas Wong, who remained in Hong Kong, would publish and bolster the calls.

According to the sentencing framework of the NSL, grave offences carry a penalty of fixed-term imprisonment of 10 years or more, or life imprisonment.

The defence argued this case did not fall under the category of a 'grave offence,' suggesting a starting point of nearly 10 years imprisonment along with a full guilty-plea reduction.

However, High Court designated judge William Tam disagreed.

The judge explained in the sentencing remarks that although the NSL does not have retrospective effect, according to well-established legal principles, the court may take into account the defendant's pre-NSL acts as part of the context to assess the seriousness and extensiveness of the offence.

At the time of the offence, Hong Kong was facing social turmoil and was subjected to very high risks to national security and the rule of law.

Despite the promulgation of the NSL, they persisted with their scheme and efforts, playing different but equally crucial roles, being the ring-leaders or masterminds of the conspiracy.

The judge considered the offence in this case to be extremely grave, and the punishment must fit the gravity of the crime committed to express the community's abhorrence of the defendant's actions.

Taking 13 years' imprisonment as the starting point, and by virtue of the defendant's guilty plea and mitigation, the court imposed a final sentence of 10 years' imprisonment, with two months and two days ordered to run concurrently with the sentence of the 35+ subversion case.

The process of delivering the judgement took about one and a half hours.

Joshua Wong, who was standing in the dock, looked towards the public gallery several times and nodded in acknowledgement.

He showed no particular reaction upon hearing the verdict.