A Hong Kong resident was sentenced to nearly 15 years in prison on Tuesday for biting off a pro-democracy activist’s ear and attacking three people during major protests that rocked the territory in 2019.
This prison sentence is the longest imposed to date in the context of this protest movement.
Supreme Court Justice Judianna Barnes said Tuesday that Joe Chen’s ripping off part of pro-democracy activist Andrew Chiu’s ear was a “very barbaric” act that defied belief.
In December, a jury found the defendant guilty of three counts, including that of willful injury, an offense punishable by life imprisonment.
Mr. Chen, 52, had shouted “Take back Taiwan” outside a mall in the city in November 2019.
Beijing claims the self-governing democratic island as part of its territory and has vowed to take it back one day, by force if necessary.
After singing the Chinese national anthem, Mr. Chen attacked a man and two women with a knife, after they asked him why he had just launched “Free Taiwan”.
Part of the left ear of Mr. Chiu, a pro-democracy activist and district councilor at the time, had been ripped off when he stepped in to try to restrain Mr. Chen.
Defense lawyers had argued that the attacker had consumed alcohol before the attack and that the unemployed man suffered from chronic mental health problems.
Mr. Chiu is among dozens of pro-democracy activists arrested and detained for violating the drastic national security law imposed by Beijing to suppress dissent in Hong Kong.