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they apply in any criminal case tried in the Court of First Instance with a jury.[1]
8. In fact, it has never been, nor could it be, suggested, that unfairness would result when a defendant is tried without a jury for, in our Magistrates’ Courts and District Court, all the cases are tried without a jury. Further, in the aforesaid judicial review application made by the Defendant concerning the certificate, he frankly, and rightly so in our view, accepted that there could be a fair trial whether the case is tried with or without a jury.[2]
B. The offences charged
B.1 Count 1: incitement to secession and the elements of the offence
9. Article 20 of the NSL provides:
「任何人組織、策劃、實施或者參與實施以下旨在分裂國家、破壞國家統一行為之一的，不論是否使用武力或者以武力相威脅，即屬犯罪：
- (一) 將香港特別行政區或者中華人民共和國其他任何部分從中華人民共和國分離出去；
- (二) 非法改變香港特別行政區或者中華人民共和國其他任何部分的法律地位；
- (三) 將香港特別行政區或者中華人民共和國其他任何部分轉歸外國統治。」
- ↑ Articles 5, 41 and 45 of the NSL.
- ↑ Tong Ying Kit v Secretary for Justice [2021] HKCFI 1397, [7(3)] and [26(a)].
