Hong Kong artist sentenced again for Chinese 'freedom' graffiti

Hong Kong, September 12 (ANI): A Hong Kong artist has once again been sentenced to a suspended jail term after admitting to painting graffiti featuring the Chinese characters for "freedom" combined with dollar signs.

According to Hong Kong Free Press, the artist, Chan King-fai, represented himself in court and pleaded guilty to four counts of criminal damage at the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts on Friday.

According to Hong Kong Free Press, the charges stemmed from incidents in Kwai Chung and Sha Tin in 2023, where Chan sprayed the symbolic graffiti. Magistrate Andy Cheng noted that the latest case closely resembled an earlier one handled in June, when Chan admitted to 12 counts of criminal damage in Central and Sheung Wan.

For those offences, he received a three-week jail term suspended for two years. The magistrate said it would have been preferable if the four fresh counts had been dealt with alongside the earlier case, but since police discovered the graffiti at different times, the prosecutions were split.

The magistrate ruled it was only fair to deliver the same sentence again, another three-week jail term, suspended for two years. He confirmed with Chan that he understood the meaning of a suspended sentence, to which the artist responded affirmatively.

During mitigation, Chan explained that he struggles with anxiety and insomnia, often resorting to alcohol, which leads him to "make mistakes." He told the court that he had borrowed money from relatives to undergo counselling programmes in hopes of repairing relationships with his family, as reported by Hong Kong Free Press.

Friday's verdict marks the third time Chan has faced court over the same graffiti design, which, he said, was conceived in late 2022 to symbolise a personal yearning for financial freedom. His first arrest occurred in February 2023, and later that year, he was sentenced to a one-year probation order after admitting to 20 counts of criminal damage. Following his third charge in June, he was briefly held in custody before being released on bail. (ANI)

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