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Three Hong Kong students aged between 20 and 23 were jailed on Thursday, 28th of December for up to six years for their involvement in a plot to blow up government buildings, with one pleading guilty to “terrorist activities” under the national security law.
The three were the last defendants convicted in a series of prosecutions launched over a couple of years against a little-known group called “Returning Valiant”.
The team purportedly plotted to produce bombs using the explosive products in 2021 and planned to blow up offices, cross-harbour tunnels, police staff quarters, railways and court buildings between April 1 and 5 July 2021. However, the defendants were arrested in July by National Security police before any of the devices were made or used.
According to the prosecutors, Ho Yu-wang, a 17-year-old at the time of his arrest was “primarily responsible for making the explosives”.
Having been jailed for over two years, Ho was sentenced to six years in prison for “conspiracy to commit terrorist activities”, with the court declaring him to be “the ringleader” of the group.
Kwok Man-hei, who recently turned 21 in custody, and Cheung Ho-Yeung, a 23-year-old university student brought into the case in April, both pleaded guilty to “conspiracy to cause explosions”.
Kwok was sentenced to 2½ years in prison, while Cheung received six years as he was the first to raise the idea of “targeting government offices, court buildings and police quarters”, the court was told.
Prosecutors also said Cheung provided HK$40,000 (S$6,740) for Ho to purchase equipment and chemicals.
“The hostile social atmosphere in 2019 and 2020 was such that it... might turn some people with previously good characters into radicals,” said High Court Judge Alex Lee, one of the judges hand-picked by the government to try national security cases.
“No matter what the defendants’ purpose might have been, the plan was without any doubt an evil one.”
Previously, 11 young people related to the group were convicted in the first two cases involving minors under the security law.
密謀爆炸香港設施的學生被判最高6年監禁
12 月28 日星期四，三名年齡在20 歲至23 歲之間的香港學生因參與策劃炸毀政府大樓而被判處最高六年監禁，其中一名學生承認犯有國家安全法規定的“恐怖活動」罪。
這三人是幾年來對一個鮮為人知的「回歸勇敢」組織發起的一系列起訴中最後被定罪的被告。
該團夥據稱密謀在2021年使用爆炸產品製造炸彈，併計劃在2021年4月1日至7月5日期間炸毀辦公室、海底隧道、警察宿舍、鐵路和法院大樓。然而，被告於7月在被捕在製造或使用任何設備之前，國家安全警察都會進行調查。
據檢察官稱，被捕時 17 歲的何裕旺「主要負責製造爆炸物」。
入獄兩年多後，何某以「陰謀實施恐怖活動」罪判處有期徒刑六年，法院宣布他是該組織的「頭目」。
最近在押的郭文熙 (Kwok Man-hei) 和今年 4 月受案的 23 歲大學生張浩陽 (Cheung Ho-Yeung) 均承認「串謀製造爆炸」罪名。
法庭獲悉，郭被判處 2.5 年監禁，張被判處 6 年徒刑，因為他是第一個提出「針對政府辦公室、法院大樓和警察宿舍」的想法的人。
檢察官還表示，張向何提供了 4 萬港元（6,740 新元），用於購買設備和化學品。
「2019年和2020年充滿敵意的社會氛圍......可能會讓一些原本品格良好的人變成激進分子，」高等法院法官亞歷克斯·李(Alex Lee)說，他是政府精心挑選的審理國家安全案件的法官之一。。
“無論被告的目的是什麼，這個計劃無疑是一個邪惡的計劃。”
此前，在前兩起涉及未成年人的案件中，與該組織有關的11名青少年根據國安法被定罪。
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