Protestor Shot by Police is Sentenced to Jail

Tsang was sentenced to three and a half years in jail

The convictions against 2019 protesters continue with one who was shot by the police has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison for rioting and assaulting a police officer.

Tsang Chi-kin, who was 18 years old at the time, was involved in clashes with the police on October 1, 2019. He was in Tsuen Wan when an officer fired a live round at close range at Tsang -- shooting him in his left lung, only 3cm from his heart.

He was rushed to hospital in critical condition and later had the bullet removed.

Tsang was shot by a police officer October 1

According to Judge Ada Yim, before Tsang was shot, some 200 protesters were gathered in the area, throwing Molotov cocktails and bricks at the police, and setting fires. 

At the time Tsang was dressed head to toe in black, including goggles and gloves, and was carrying a makeshift shield.

He had no prior criminal record, and was diagnosed with depression in 2017. Yim said Tsang cooperated with the police investigation and wrote his own plea letter regretting his actions. But she said his depression and injury from the shooting were not reasons for a lower penalty.

She handed him a sentence of 40 months for rioting, and an additional seven months for assaulting a police officer. 

Last July Tsang was arrested along with three others in Sai Kung as they were planning to escape to Taiwan by boat. Before that, the four had been hiding in various safehouses for two years until crowdfunded money ran out.

Tsang examining his X-rays

The courts continue to convict, with at last count in April, some 6,000 more cases to go. 

Tsang will do his time, and then what will his future be in Hong Kong? Does he even have a future there?