Following a plea agreement with the prosecution, a Hong Kong court found on Wednesday that the former leader of pro-independence group Studentlocalism was guilty of secession under the city's broad national security legislation.
Twenty-year old Tony Chung was arrested and charged with the offenses last October. He was denied bail.
Local media reported at the time Chung was abducted together with two others from a coffee shop near the U.S. consulate by unidentified individuals and was believed to be planning to apply for asylum.
Chung reached a plea agreement in which he admitted guilt on one count of secession and one count of money laundering and pleaded not guilty on another sedition and money laundering allegation.
"I plead guilty. My conscience is clear," Chung stated in his plea.
However, District Judge Stanley Chan Kwong-chi took exception to Chung's reaction, warning him against making political remarks.
Chan stated that while incarceration was "the most likely sentence," he was legally bound to consider the defendant's fitness for a non-custodial punishment given his youth.
"There must be no mistake that a non-custodial punishment is a possibility," added the judge, who was selected from a pool of jurists by city leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to oversee security legislation cases, the South China Morning Post reported.
Prosecutor Ivan Cheung stated that he served as an administrator for the Studentlocalism chapter in the U.S. and an organization called the Initiative Independence Party's Facebook accounts.
Prosecutors said shirts, books, and flags supporting independence were also confiscated from his home. The money laundering charge is tied to financial support he received through PayPal.
Chan stated that the sentencing will be issued on November 23.
Studentlocalism, like other anti-government groups, disbanded before China enacted the security law in June last year, which criminalizes secession, subversion, acts of terror, and coordination with foreign forces.
Hong Kong authorities maintain that the security law does not violate individual rights and that the legislation was required to restore peace following months of large protests in 2019.
