Hong Kong police get 2 years’ prison in activist’s beating

HONG KONG — Seven Hong Kong police officers were sentenced Friday to two years in prison for assaulting a pro-democracy activist at the height of 2014 protests, in an attack that was caught on film by TV news cameras.

The video of officers beating up Ken Tsang in a dark corner of a park stoked outrage among residents of the semiautonomous Chinese financial hub and further fueled the protests against Beijing’s plan to restrict elections.

District Court Judge David Dufton said in his sentencing remarks that prison time was appropriate because it was a serious case. He said Ken Tsang was defenseless, with his hands bound behind his back by plastic ties, when officers subjected him to a “vicious assault” in which he was “stamped on and repeatedly kicked.”

“The defendants have not only brought dishonor to the Hong Kong police force, they have also damaged Hong Kong’s reputation in the international community, the assault having been widely viewed around the world and reported as front-page news in a number of countries,” Dufton said.

The incident occurred as protesters scuffled with police in the pre-dawn hours of Oct. 15, 2014, for control of an underpass outside government headquarters. News cameras caught officers carrying Tsang away and assaulting him behind a building in a nearby park.

Tsang himself was convicted last year of assaulting police and resisting arrest in relation to the incident. Dufton found the officers guilty earlier this week on charges of assault occasioning bodily harm.

Dufton said Tsang’s conviction and the immense stress officers faced during the “Umbrella Movement” protests, which brought parts of the city to a standstill for 11 weeks, were no justification for the assault.

One officer, who was convicted on a separate count of common assault for slapping Tsang at a police station, was given a one-month sentence, to be served concurrently.