A local court in south China on Wednesday sentenced 10 people to prison terms of seven months to three years for organizing illegal border crossings and illegally crossing the border.
Tang Kaiyin and Quinn Moon were respectively sentenced to three years and two years in prison after being convicted of organizing illegal border crossings for others, according to a verdict handed down by the Yantian District People's Court in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. The two were respectively fined 20,000 yuan (about 3,064 U.S. dollars) and 15,000 yuan.
Eight other defendants were sentenced to seven months in prison with fines of 10,000 yuan each for sneaking across the border.
According to the arrangements of others, Tang and Quinn organized the sneaking to Taiwan from Hong Kong on Aug. 23, 2020. A total of 12 people, including Tang, Quinn and two juveniles, took a boat from a port in Hong Kong's Sai Kung. Tang navigated the boat.
They were captured by Shenzhen Coast Guard in waters under the jurisdiction of Guangdong Province at about 8 a.m. on the same day. They were officially arrested on Sept. 30 with the approval of the procuratorate authority.
The 10 confessed to the crimes, pleaded guilty and accepted the punishment. In its verdict, the court said as Tang and Quinn were organized by others to perpetrate the crime, they were accomplices in the crime. Thus, they were treated leniently according to law. Eight other defendants were also entitled to lesser punishments according to law, the court added.
According to Shenzhen Special Zone Daily, Quinn said at the court she has realized the fairness, justice and rigor of the legal system in the mainland, and has also obtained her due rights.
"Because of my prejudice and impulse, I have committed many acts that are harmful to the society and to my family. I have violated a series of laws. Now I feel extremely repentant," Quinn said.
"I hope the court can treat me with leniency so that I can return to society as soon as possible and have enough time to make up for my family," she added.
The sentence shows comprehensive consideration of the criminal facts of each defendant as well as the plots that deserve tougher or lighter punishment, said Yang Jianguang, a law professor at Sun Yat-sen University, adding it not only conforms to the law but also reflects the policy that deals with criminals by combining leniency with rigor.
Some lawmakers, political advisors and journalists from Shenzhen and Hong Kong, as well as relatives of the defendants, attended the sentencing.
The People's Procuratorate of Yantian District on Wednesday said that it had decided not to prosecute the two juveniles who pleaded guilty and accepted the punishment after a review and a closed hearing according to law.
The two were deported on the same day, according to police of the Yantian District.
