“Any sensible person can tell that the books are seditious,” he added.
Defence lawyer Anson Wong told the court on Friday there was no evidence that the books were distributed or that Leung had seditious intent.
“The books objectively had the (seditious) intention, but the defendant subjectively did not,” Wong said, adding that prosecutors had agreed.
In a letter to the court, Leung offered “sincere apologies” but the chief magistrate said the sentence must have an element of deterrence.
The crime of importing seditious publication carries a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment for first-time offenders.
In recent years, the sedition offence has often been used by Hong Kong prosecutors in parallel with a sweeping national security law that Beijing imposed in 2020.
Sedition cases often involved defendants with no public profile, in contrast to security law cases which mostly target well-known activists and politicians.
In September 2022, the original creators of the Sheep Village series – five speech therapists – were each jailed for 19 months in a separate sedition prosecution.
Source: CNA
