HKSAR v. Sysoev Igorevich Iurii

HCCC 22/2018

[2019] HKCFI 306

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CRIMINAL CASE NO 22 OF 2018

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Transcript of the Audio Recording

of the Sentence in the above Case

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COURT:

Iurii Sysoev, I am not going to preach a sermon on the ills of the international drug trade. The jury by its verdict clearly considered how willingly you lent your aid to this filthy trade. Mr Ross will have told you that in Hong Kong, the Court of Appeal has set down very clear guidelines as to how judges should sentence those who choose to traffic in dangerous drugs. He will have told you that judges are expected to stick to those guidelines unless there are very, very strong reasons not to do so, and there are no such strong reasons in your case.

Mr Ross will also have told you that the sentence to be passed on the offender who brings drugs into Hong Kong from abroad should be higher than the sentence passed on the offender who traffics drugs solely in Hong Kong. Hong Kong has an international reputation to protect as a city ruled by the rule of law, and it will not tolerate strangers using it as a staging post in the international drugs trade.

You threw away the opportunity of gaining yourself a substantial discount...

(Interpretation in Russian)

COURT:

Thank you. As I was saying, Hong Kong has an international reputation to protect as a city which is ruled by the rule of law, and it will not tolerate strangers using it as a staging post in the international drugs trade. Now, you threw away the opportunity of gaining yourself a substantial discount in sentence when you chose to contest this case. Now, I accept that you did co-operate with the Customs and Excise service. You gave information which led to the arrest of this man, Nikita, and you will receive recognition in sentence for that.

Now, following the guidelines I have spoken of, they are based on the weight, the active narcotic weight of the drug trafficked in. For the amount of cocaine that you brought into Hong Kong where the active content was 2.53 kilograms, I am obliged to take a starting-point sentence of 24 years and 5 months’ imprisonment.

Now, because of the international element in this case, I am obliged to enhance or increase that sentence by a further 2 years to reflect the international element. Now, mathematically, that would take your sentence to one of 26 years and 5 months’ imprisonment. However, I am discounting your sentence by 5 months to reflect the assistance that you gave and which led to the arrest of this man, Nikita. Therefore, your sentence is one of 26 years’ imprisonment.