47-person case | Hong Kong’s first subversion case: defendants jailed for 4 to 10 years, below Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi, some longer than Wang Quanzhang
47人案｜港首宗顛覆案被告囚4至10年 低於許志永、丁家喜 部分高於王全璋
In Hong Kong’s first subversion case, 47 pro-democracy figures were accused of using a primary election to control the Legislative Council and then indiscriminately vetoing the budget to force the Chief Executive to step down. Forty-five were convicted and sentenced to between 4 years and 2 months and 10 years in prison. The judge said Dai Yaoting was “in substance advocating a revolution”. Dai, Au Nok-hin and Andrew Chiu were given a sentencing starting point of 15 years and, after reductions, sentenced to between 6 years and 9 months and 10 years. China’s Criminal Law also provides for the offence of subversion, with provisions and sentencing tiers broadly similar to those in Hong Kong. In mainland subversion cases in recent years, legal scholar Xu Zhiyong and rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi were accused of forming an illegal civic movement organisation, writing seditious articles and holding secret meetings of an illegal organisation. They were sentenced to 14 years and 12 years in prison respectively. Rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang, whose case was related to the “709 case”, was also sentenced to four and a half years in prison. Comparing the final sentences, all the defendants in the 47-person case received shorter terms than Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi, while 25 defendants received longer terms than Wang Quanzhang.
香港首宗顛覆案，47 名民主派被指藉初選控制立法會，繼而無差別否決預算案逼使特首下台，45 人罪成，判囚 4 年 2 個月至 10 年。法官指戴耀廷「實質上是提倡一場革命」，戴與區諾軒、趙家賢以囚 15 年為量刑起點，扣除減刑後被判囚 6 年 9 個月至 10 年。 中國刑法亦設有顛覆罪，條文及刑期分級與香港相若。近年內地顛覆案中，法律學者許志永、維權律師丁家喜，被指成立公民運動非法組織、撰寫煽動性文章及召開非法組織秘密會議，分別被判囚 14 年及 12 年；涉及「709 案」的維權律師王全璋亦被判囚 4 年半。 以最終刑期比較，47 人案被告的刑期全部低於許志永、丁家喜，但有 25 名被告的刑期高於王全璋。