Effort to jail "Umbrella Revolution" activists fails

Activists Nathan Law, Joshua Wong and Alex Chow walked free Wednesday after being summoned to court by prosecutors who demanded their sentences be reviewed. The court ordered community service to Wong and Law while Chow received a suspended jail sentence.

All three were convicted in August for their part in protests that led up to the major pro-democracy demonstrations of 2014 calling for fully free elections of the city's leader.

Prosecutors said the sentences were too lenient and attempted to convince the judge that the so-called "Umbrella Revolution," which saw mass mobilization against mainland rule, was large-scale and that the defendants had not shown genuine remorse.

But presiding judge Eastern Court Magistrate June Cheung said she saw no reason to overturn her previous ruling. "The court believes the three defendants are expressing their views and demands genuinely out of their political beliefs or their concern for society," she told the court.

"The court will continue to adopt the previous reasons for sentencing,” she said, according to the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong.

Law, a 23-year-old defendant who was recently voted in as the city's youngest lawmaker, slammed the proceedings as a political stunt.

"The Department of Justice and the government are basically hunting those [who took part in] civil disobedience and those who uphold democratic values," Law told reporters.

It remains unclear whether prosecutors - who critics allege are under political pressure from Beijing - will appeal again.

Hong Kong has been governed under a "one country, two systems" deal since it was handed back to China after a 99-year lease by the United Kingdom expired in 1997.

The handover agreement is supposed to ensure Hong Kong's special status and enhanced freedoms for 50 years, but there are concerns those liberties are already being eroded.

Law and fellow defendant Wong, 19, have together set up a new political party calling for Hong Kong residents to have a choice over their sovereignty when the handover deal expires in 2047.

jar/mg (AP, AFP)