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national security and the rule of law during the period of the offence; (ii) the defendant’s undermining of the NSL induced others to believe that the behaviour related to “Hong Kong independence” was, as he said, “not unlawful”; (iii) the defendant’s modus operandi was aimed at enhancing the effect of his incitement on others to secession; (iv) the defendant called for the public to join the activities initiated by him on dates of relatively high risk of violent confrontations in Hong Kong at the time; (v) the defendant perpetrated the crime with premeditation; and (vi) the defendant incited others to convey the message of secession through multiple means.
23. Hence, in sentencing the defendants, the Court should give effect to the NSL’s offence creating provisions as well as our common law principles on sentencing. However, reliance should not be placed on sentencing examples of the mainland courts.
Impossibility
24. It was submitted by some of the defendants that the ultimate consequences of serious interfering in, disrupting or undermining the performance of duties and functions of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government depended very much on the Scheme being carried to the fruition and that would have never materialised. Hence in the present case they said even without disqualification or calling off the LegCo election, the Scheme was bound to fail because the participants simply failed to secure sufficient seats.
