Hong Kong sentences Occupy leaders to up to 16 months in jail

Bloomberg

A Hong Kong court sentenced Occupy protest organiser Benny Tai to 16 months in prison on charges he conspired to commit public nuisance, capping the China-backed
government’s push to punish leaders of 2014’s mass pro-democracy demonstrations.
Tai, 54, an associate law professor at the University of Hong Kong, was ordered to begin serving his time immediately by District Court Judge Johnny Chan in West Kowloon.
Tai was also given a concurrent sentence of eight months on a charge of inciting public nuisance. Chan earlier this month found Tai and other organisers guilty of various crimes.
The movement’s two other main leaders — Chan Kin-man, 60, a retired associate professor of sociology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong; and Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, 75 — were also handed 16-month prison terms, with Chu’s suspended for two years.
The charges of public nuisance carry a maximum penalty of seven year’s imprisonment and a fine under a common law provision held over from Hong Kong’s time as a British colony.
Tai said ahead of the court session that he felt “peaceful and hopeful to face whatever may happen today.”
The three men were among nine academics, activists and politicians convicted for their roles in organising the protests, which lasted 79 days and brought parts of the Asian financial hub to a halt.