Hong Kong District Court judge Ernest Lin Kam-hung sentenced ex-Cantopop boy band member, Tommy Yuen, to 26 months of imprisonment on charges of sedition and money laundering, as detailed in the court’s judgment released on Thursday.
The judge determined that Yuen had voiced seditious statements on social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram, throughout 2021. These included remarks concerning a marine police officer’s death, an injury suffered by the former Chief Executive Carrie Lam, and cases of officer misconduct. The court concluded these posts to be evidence of Yuen advocating for Hong Kong’s independence and derogating the Hong Kong government.
Moreover, Yuen, along with his spouse, were found guilty of leveraging his celebrity status to solicit funds from the public. More specifically, Yuen was accused of promoting concert tickets online and generating over HKD$ 200k under the guise of a fictitious woman named “A”. The court took this as an attempt by Yuen and his wife to manipulate people’s sympathies, a portrayal likened to “producing a TV drama“.
The initial sentence for Yuen was 39 months, but was reduced by one-third to 26 months after he pled guilty in July.
Yuen was widely known as a member of the now-dissolved Cantopop boy group, E-kids, and had taken part in the2019 anti-extradition protests. This event led to the implementation of the National Security Law in 2020. With previous cases of ruling against the protesters in 2019, Judge Lin Kam-hung was referred to as a “pro-government” or “pro-China” judge. He also faced complaints last year for ordering three yellow mask-wearing attendees to change their gear without providing an adequate reason.