Former leader of Hong Kong group advocating "independence" jailed for 43 months

HONG KONG, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Tony Chung Hon-lam, the former convener of a student group advocating "Hong Kong independence," was sentenced to 43 months in prison on Tuesday for secession and money laundering.

The sentence was handed down to the defendant at the District Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Chung was sentenced to three years and four months for the first charge of secession, and a year and a half for the second charge of money laundering, with three months served non-concurrently, totalling 43 months.

The 20-year-old was accused of planning, organizing, and participating in activities that aim to separate Hong Kong from China between July and October 2020, and of handling about 135,000 Hong Kong dollars (about 17,300 U.S. dollars) of crime proceeds in his PayPal account between January 2018 and October 2020.

The District Court judge said although the defendant did not have concrete plans to split the country, his goal was clear enough.