A Generation Spent in Hong Kong Prisons: Zhou Ting, Huang Zhifeng and Lin Langyan Convicted and Immediately Imprisoned | The last 24 hours | udn Global



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2020/12/02 24 hour corner


 Photo / Associated press
Photo / Associated press

【2020. 12. 2 Hong Kong

A generation spent in Hong Kong prisons: Zhou Ting, Huang Zhifeng and Lin Langyan were immediately convicted and imprisoned.

“Zhou Ting was imprisoned for 10 months, Lin Langyan 7 months … Huang Zhifeng 13.5 months, immediately sent to prison!” Huang Zhifeng, Zhou Ting and Lin Langyan, known as Hong Kong Zhizhi’s three sons, were previously imprisoned within 2 days. In response to the case of the three people who fought to encircle the police headquarters in anti-broadcast last year, they were immediately convicted and jailed. Although the conviction and imprisonment had been the expected outcome of the three of them, at the time the sentence was pronounced, Zhou Ting, who was imprisoned for the first time, still could not bear the tears due to the tremendous pressure. Faced with the support of followers inside and outside the court, Lin Langyan shouted “Never regret” before leaving the court, and Huang Zhifeng also replied to everyone: “I know it’s so difficult, wait!” As Zhou Ting prepared to appeal, the bail request had already been applied. They were rejected by the judge; Huang Lin and the other two did not appeal against the result, and the three were sentenced and instructed to go to jail immediately. Among them, Huang Zhifeng and Zhou Ting, who have long sentences, are still tangled up in follow-up cases. Therefore, before the changing and unfavorable gray world, several “old Taiwanese” were charged and imprisoned, which also shows that Hong Kong today is difficult to breathe Oppression and anger.

Zhongzhi’s three sons, Huang Zhifeng, Zhou Ting and Lin Langyan, were active in the early days of the “Student Thought” founded in 2011. Huang Zhifeng and his classmate Lin Langyan, who were only 15 years old at the time, protested against the implementation of national education in Hong Kong by China. And he founded the scholar’s thought to carry out the opposition’s proposal, Zhou Ting of the same age also served as a spokesman for the scholar’s thought. After the Umbrella Revolution in 2014 and the Fish Ball Revolution in Mong Kok in 2016, the ideological trend of academics stopped working after 2016. All three also turned to the establishment of a political party, Hong Kong, and continued to work. on political and social issues. It was not until the strong passage of the Hong Kong version of the National Security Law in June this year that Hong Kong founding members Zhifeng Huang Zhifeng and Zhou Ting withdrew due to personal security considerations; and a series of repeated interrogations, arrests and prisons were also killing everyone. Three children of the same generation of Hong Kong youth.

On December 2, Lin Langyan (left) and Huang Zhifeng (center) were escorted to court for trial Photo / European News Agency
On December 2, Lin Langyan (left) and Huang Zhifeng (center) were escorted to court for trial Photo / European News Agency

As for the three people involved in the siege of the police headquarters on June 21 during the anti-broadcast period last year, Huang Zhifeng and others were charged with “inciting others to knowingly participate in a meeting. unauthorized”. The judge eventually sentenced Huang Zhifeng to 13.5 months in prison and the 10th Zhou Court. Lin Langyan was sentenced to 7 months. All three were immediately jailed without parole, and Zhou Ting, who was imprisoned for the first time, requested bail, but the judge still rejected it. Without bail, Huang Zhifeng and Zhou Ting were postponed to the Legislative Council elections on September 5, 2021 next year. Huang Zhifeng and Zhou Ting were unable to get out of jail before the elections as they wished, in order to gather political energy and influence the elections in this election.

Huang Zhifeng, Zhou Ting and Lin Langyan were previously sentenced to preventive detention for three people on November 23. The judge was originally expected to have sentencing that day, but after the West Kowloon Magistracy opened, it was postponed to December 2. Verdict of the day. The three people who could not be released on bail continued to be held in prison for this reason.

The alleged evidence from the charge was that on the day the police chief was surrounded by 621, Huang Zhifeng, Zhou Ting, and Lin Langyan chanted slogans at the scene while calling on people to surround the headquarters. Although no conflict broke out that day and the police chief’s demonstration also ended peacefully, the images of the protest captured by the three have become “strong evidence” of the charges.

The relevant case had been before the trial in August this year. At the time, both Huang Zhifeng and Lin Langyan denied the allegations, and the three were released on bail. However, before the trial was reopened on November 23, all three “confessed guilty” on their personal Facebook pages. Huang Zhifeng and Zhou Ting claimed that this was after reviewing the prosecution’s evidence and consulting the lawyer’s opinions. All charges. The headline “Huang Zhifeng confessed” for a time became the center of news and public opinion at that time. However, the confession of the three people was not a confession of guilt for the “action of resistance”, but to allow the court to skip the interrogation stage and not be cited. The witness did not debate the case and went directly to the closing statement. However, it seems unexpected that the original expectation would be sentenced to prison in court for this, but the sentence was postponed until December 2.

On December 2, the people who opposed Zhongzhi's three sons out of court.  After the prison sentence was announced, some opponents deliberately applauded ...
On December 2, the people who opposed Zhongzhi’s three sons out of court. After the prison sentence was announced, opponents deliberately clapped and drank in derision. At one point, there was a dispute with supporters.Photo / Reuters

After being jailed, she reawakened the support of the protesters. Among them, the role of Zhou Ting was particularly notable because she was also accused of violating the “Hong Kong National Security Law”. The case went public in Hong Kong in August 2019. Try to post an advertisement in the “Nihon Keizai Shimbun”, calling on the international community to support Hong Kong’s struggle. In response to this case, Zhou Ting must also report to the police on December 2.

“I also know in my heart that there is a possibility of a prison sentence being sent on Wednesday, so the mood is not good and I will be very worried.” Zhou Ting told the outside world about his feelings after entering prison through his friends, and because December 3 is Zhou Ting’s 24th birthday. He expected to spend time in prison, and Zhou Ting, who had a large following, unleashed a wave of solidarity at home and abroad. Especially in Japan, where Zhou Ting worked hard to control the volume of his voice, follow-up actions were spurred by the news of Zhou Ting’s imprisonment.

Japan’s “Japan-China Parliamentary Policy Alliance” (JPAC), a group made up of multi-party MPs, released a statement on November 30 with academics from the University of Tokyo, Meiji University and Hokkaido University. Solidarity. JPAC called on the Hong Kong government for Huang Zhifeng and the others to be released on the basis of freedom and democracy; and Meiji University participating professor Ken Suzuki also specifically emphasized against the arrest of Zhou Ting:

“Japan should support Zhou Ting, because she spoke to the world through Japan. She was arrested because the Chinese government wanted to prevent her from continuing to exert influence in Japan. Therefore, it is Japanese civil society that can save Zhou Ting. “. And the political world. If you don’t act, you won’t be able to save Zhou Ting. “

The picture shows the arrest of Huang Zhifeng and Zhou Ting in August 2019.Photo / Reuters
The picture shows the arrest of Huang Zhifeng and Zhou Ting in August 2019.Photo / Reuters

On the other hand, Huang Zhifeng, who was also detained, was in an unsatisfactory situation. On December 1, before the trial, Huang Zhifeng republished a copy of his “prison manuscript” and wrote down the nightmares and treatment he encountered in the individual cell. Huang Zhifeng stated that after completing the incarceration procedures on the day of his arrest, the prison authorities imprisoned him in a single cell at the hospital on “suspicion that there was a foreign body in Huang Zhifeng’s body.” But what about this foreign body? The prison only claimed that the X-ray film taken by Huang Zhifeng was abnormal and they suspected that there were drugs or rings, gold and silver on her belly. However, Huang Zhifeng refuted this accusation. He had normal meals and had never been involved in drugs. Under public X-rays, Huang Zhifeng, who recognized himself as innocent, was taken to the individual cell.

According to Huang Zhifeng’s description, the single-person cell is turned on for 24 hours, and blood pressure and blood oxygen content are measured every 4 hours according to the treatment of drug offenders, and there is no time for releasing air. Basic sleep is also very difficult. “I have been to jail three times in the past, but this time it is a” prison in a prison, “Huang Zhifeng said. Under such extreme confinement, the process requires a lot of time and energy to calm and stabilize the mood.

Huang Zhifeng was transferred to the Lai Chi Kok reception center after 72 hours in a single hospital cell. In addition to the December 2 sentencing, Huang Zhifeng also has two other charges, which will be re-tried on December 5 and February 2021, respectively.

In response to this ruling, the defense attorney presented an appeal letter to the judge, hoping to consider that in the siege of the police chief, the three did not actually act violently, nor did they instigate others to take drastic measures. There were also letters of appeal from all walks of life. He supported solidarity, but in the end Judge Wang Shili concluded that “the law must never allow public order to be destroyed and there must be a determination to maintain public order”, emphasizing that it is a premeditated “selfish act” that it defies the authority of the police and is potentially dangerous to the public.

Before sentencing, Zhou Ting, who received a lot of attention from the outside world, was first made into the World’s 100 Best Women in 2020 by the British “BBC”. In the mid-November interview, Zhou Ting also stated his state of mind to the “BBC”:

“It is undeniable that this city is becoming more and more desperate, and I also feel that the way forward is lost. You ask me what can I do now? I cannot answer, but we cannot let despair seize us, or let us forget out of fear. In my opinion, the ideal Hong Kong is a democratic Hong Kong. “

 Photo / AFP
Photo / AFP

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