The Hong Kong High Court rendered a significant sentence on Thursday, targeting the leader of a bomb plot engineered against the city’s police forces. Ng Chi-hung has been sentenced to 23 years and 10 months in prison for his role in orchestrating this plan. He was convicted of “conspiracy to commit a bombing of prescribed object” under the United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Ordinance—legislation that had not previously been applied in such cases since its enactment in 2002.
The court also issued sentences to six other members of the so-called “Dragon Slaying Brigade.” Wong Chun-keung, who was identified as the leader of this group, received a sentence of 13 years and six months. The additional five participants were handed down sentences ranging from five years and 10 months to 12 years imprisonment. Judge Cheung Wai-ling highlighted that these defendants had planned an attack that involved placing explosives and using firearms to ambush police officers during a pro-democracy march on December 8, 2019, organized by the Civil Human Rights Front.
The prosecution’s case centered on plotting to detonate two bombs alongside the march route. The strategy was to lure police to detonate the first small bomb, prompting a gunman to open fire from a height, thereby coercing the police towards a larger bomb designed for maximum damage. This strategy, according to the prosecution, was intended to cause severe harm or fatalities among the officers.
Judge Cheung, in determining the sentence, took into account the grave nature of the conspiracy despite the absence of precedents. The Court referenced HKSAR v Yip Kai Foon as a comparison, where the defendant received an 18-year sentence for possessing TNT. Despite defenses claiming lesser lethality of the plot’s explosives, the Court maintained the seriousness of intent as a critical factor in the sentencing.
The Hong Kong government underscored the severity of the crimes as “extreme terrorist violence” and indicated potential future applications of stricter legal frameworks, including the National Security Law. Senior Superintendent Li Kwai-wah stressed that this ruling highlights the consequences for actions linked to the anti-extradition protest movement of 2019. The police force, alongside the Department of Justice, is considering appealing the sentences.
Full details of the ruling and context can be accessed through the official report from JURIST.