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36. On our finding, the political agenda in count 2 was of a secessionist nature, which involves a contravention of the fundamental provisions in the Basic Law as observed above. We consider this to be a matter which we should take into account in sentencing the Defendant for the offence of terrorist activities.
37. Needless to say, whoever carries out terrorist activities with a view to intimidating the public in order to pursue political agenda, whatever that is, should be condemned and punished, but when the political agenda is secessionist in nature, it is our view that there is an added criminality in that such an agenda is seeking to undermine national unification.
38. We do not consider taking the secessionist nature of the political agenda into account would involve any double counting of this factor. For count 1, the secessionist meaning of the Slogan was the basis of the offence of incitement and was pivotal to the commission of the offence in count 1. As such, it is therefore not considered as an aggravating factor. For the offence in count 2, the political agenda could be secessionist in nature, or otherwise, but if it is the former, then there is the added criminality as explained above. In any event, we will keep in mind the totality principle in coming to an overall appropriate sentence for the two counts.
39. Having taken into account all the relevant matters, we consider a starting point of 8 years to be appropriate for count 2.
