Hong Kong (RAE - China) - Civil liberties in Hong Kong

In its concluding observations of 3 February 2016, the UN Committee against Torture (CAT) expressed its concern at consistent reports of massive detentions of persons in the context of demonstrations and the alleged restriction to the detainees’ legal safeguards. The Committee also noted that, on 18 August 2017, a court decision was handed down against three persons in relation to the mass demonstration in 2014 for inciting others to take part in an unlawful assembly, or for taking part in an unlawful assembly under section 18 of the Public Order Ordinance. During the first instance, three defendants respectively received 80 hours’ community service, 120 hours’ community service and three weeks’ imprisonment with probation for one year. Upon the application of the Public Prosecutors for the review of the case, the Court of Appeal considered that the sentences of the first instance were inadequate and could not possibly reflect the gravity of the offences. It therefore sentenced the three defendants to six to eight months’ imprisonment respectively.