Hong Kong: Joshua Wong sentenced to 10 more months - Tiananmen vigil to be restricted? | DW News

Hong Kong's District Court on Thursday sentenced activist Joshua Wong to another 10 months in prison for participating in an unauthorized assembly on June 4 last year to mark the anniversary of Beijing's 1989 crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square. The 24-year-old was sentenced alongside three district councilors. Judge Stanley Chan sentenced Lester Shum, Jannell Leung and Tiffany Yuen to between four and six months. Wong, Shum and Yuen were also facing charges under the new national security law. "The sentence should deter people from offending and re-offending in the future," Chan said. The judge said the four defendants' attendance at the vigil was "deliberate, premeditated... and openly defied the law."

The annual candlelight vigil was banned last year for the first time in Hong Kong due to pandemic-related restrictions on group gatherings. Some 20,000 people gathered anyway in what was largely a peaceful event. Since then, prosecutors have brought charges against more than two dozen democracy activists who showed up at the vigil. Officials have already signaled that this year's vigil could face restrictions again due to the coronavirus. When asked whether commemorating the victims of Tiananmen would violate the new security law, the city's leader Carrie Lam last month said it was important to show respect to the Communist Party, which celebrated its 100-year anniversary this year.

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