Page:HKSAR v. Tong Ying Kit (Sentence).pdf/10

-10- Article 21 of the NSL, warranting a sentence of imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than 10 years.

25. On the other hand, we note that the offence committed by the Defendant, albeit of a serious nature, is not the worst case of its kind in that the Defendant committed the offence alone, and that the Slogan was a general call for the separation of the HKSAR from the PRC, without an elaborate plan being conveyed to the public at the same time.

26. In the circumstances, we consider that a starting point of 6½ years’ imprisonment for count 1 should sufficiently reflect the Defendant’s culpability in this offence.

Sentencing considerations-count 2: terrorist activities

27. Article 24 is in similar terms as the statutory provisions dealing with terrorist activities in other jurisdictions, some of which also carrying a maximum penalty of imprisonment for life. However, as each piece of statute will have its own structure and substance, and also because the cultural as well as socio-economic situation pertaining at the material time when a sentence is considered by the court would not be identical, we do not find it helpful to refer to the sentences passed in the other jurisdictions.