A court in Hong Kong has sentenced former editor-in-chief of the pro-democracy publication Stand News Chang Pui-kuen to 21 months in prison for inciting a riot, AFP reports.
Chung, 55, and his colleague, 36-year-old editor-in-chief Patrick Lam, were in charge of Stand News, a Chinese-language website that gained huge popularity during the protests, before it was raided and shut down in December 2021.
Last month, District Court Judge Kwok Wai-king found the journalists guilty of "conspiracy to publish and reproduce inflammatory publications". Stand News' parent company, Best Pencil Limited, was also found guilty.
Chung's 21-month sentence makes him the first journalist to be jailed for inciting a riot since Hong Kong came under Chinese rule in 1997.
Lam received a sentence reduction and will not return to prison because of the time already served. The district judge said the sentence could endanger Lam's life because of serious health problems.
Judge Quock said the two defendants, as well as the publication, "did not do real journalistic work."
"They were involved in so-called resistance. They sided with the protesters to oppose the government. Stand News had 1.6 million followers and these inflammatory articles must have caused quite serious damage, though I couldn't put a figure on it,"
.jpg)
