The University of Hong Kong (HKU) Vice-Chancellor Peter Mathieson on Wednesday said the university regards its students as adults and expects them to take responsibility for their actions. He was replying to a question concerning three young activists who were sentenced earlier this month to six, seven and eight months in prison, respectively, for breaking the law. One of the three is Alex Chow Yong-kang, a senior student at HKU when he committed the offenses just before the start of the illegal "Occupy Central" movement in fall 2014 that eventually put him behind bars.

Matheson's words, simple as they are, offer local youths extremely valuable advice: In a society under rule of law such as Hong Kong, no one should assume they can use political ideals or youth as an excuse to violate existing law and get away with the offense. Chow and fellow activists Joshua Wong Chi-fung and Nathan Law Kwun-chung were widely regarded as poster children of "Occupy Central", which was called by the opposition camp and Western media the "umbrella revolution" - a reference to various "color revolutions" that preceded it elsewhere in the world. All those "revolutions" were aimed at seizing the governing power of the countries concerned and "Occupy" was no exception. Three years later the fact remains: It was an illegal movement that landed many young students on the wrong side of justice.

Since the three young men were given prison sentences, some biased media and politically motivated people have mounted vicious verbal attacks on the Court of Appeal as well as the Department of Justice, calling the trial "political prosecution". They obviously did not care to look at the reasons the Court of Appeal judges gave for their decision. It may or may not be the true rationale behind their very public display of arrogance, but those supporters of Wong, Chow and Law gave people little doubt they were trying to convince people they know best and one can be guilty or not only if they say so.

Fortunately those ill-advised individuals can do no more than free speech; and the public in Hong Kong can rest assured the judiciary is fully capable of serving justice precisely according to existing laws as well as the principle of rule of law despite attempts to intimidate them with groundless accusations. Local residents and young people in particular should keep in mind that all able adults must take responsibility for their actions and no one is above the law. Never assume political excuses or being young can shield one from justice.

(HK Edition 08/31/2017 page8)