12. Liao Ziwen, a Hong Kong citizen, was released on bail pending his sentence. Appellant: Or he has served his sentence before the trial period

Liao Ziwen, one of the "12 Hong Kong people", had earlier pleaded guilty to obstructing justice and possession of a petrol bomb, and was sentenced to 31 months in prison. However, the Correctional Services Department was unable to comply with the order executed during the same period, and he was ordered to serve an additional 6 months in prison in disguise.

Liao refused to accept the sentence for the petrol bomb case. After being released on bail pending appeals earlier, he applied to the Court of Appeal for bail and was approved.

The Court of Appeal issued a judgment today (25th) stating that if the Court of Appeal changes the sentence in time according to the original intention of the original judge, it is very likely that Liao should be released before the official date of appeal is set, so it decided to approve his bail of 20,000 Hong Kong dollars Appeal pending.

The applicant, Liao Ziwen (19 years old), admitted to hiding petrol bombs in a unit in Wan Chai on September 30, 2019, and was sentenced to 27 months in prison. He also admitted one count of obstructing justice, alleging that he conspired to abscond during bail , was sentenced to 10 months in prison, and the original judge allowed part of the sentence for the two crimes to be executed at the same time. In the end, Liao only had to serve 31 months in prison.

However, the Correctional Services Department stated in July this year that after deducting the number of remand days, Liao had been deemed to have served his sentence on the day of absconding and sentencing, so he could not follow the order executed by the original trial officer during the same period.

According to the original judge's calculation, Liao may have completed his sentence in September this year

The judgment quoted the appellant as saying that the original judge’s original intention was that Liao’s sentence for the obstruction of justice case and the possession of petrol bomb case would not exceed 31 months in total. Therefore, he believed that the appellate court had no reason to interfere with the original sentence of the sentence under the circumstances.

According to the calculation method of related cases, assuming that Liao can get a one-third deduction of sentence due to good behavior in prison in both cases, Liao's earliest release date is September 20, 2022, after which the 4 remand in 2019 will be deducted. Today, it should be September 16, 2022.

The court of appeal does have a chance to sentence the original judge

Although the Court of Appeal does not believe that the deduction of sentence for good behavior is applicable to the case of obstruction of justice, according to the case, the Court of Appeal may indeed change the sentence according to the original intention of the original judge.

If the judgment is timely, Liao can indeed be released as early as December 27, 2022, which means that he is very likely to be released before the official appeal date is set. Therefore, the Court of Appeal believes that Liao should be released on bail pending appeal.

Case number: CACC 115/ 2022

Liao Ziwen, one of the 12 Hong Kong people, believes that the sentence calculation method is unfair and allows 20,000 yuan bail pending appeal. "12 Hong Kong people" Liao Ziwen's application for bail was rejected: he had participated in a detailed absconding plan and it is hard to believe that "12 Hong Kong people" Liao Ziwen wanted to reduce his sentence The bail officer refused to approve but said that the trial period will be arranged as soon as possible October prison sentence for contempt of justice