14 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists convicted of subversion

A Hong Kong courtroom Thursday convicted 14 pro-democracy activists within the metropolis’s largest nationwide safety case underneath a 2020 legislation imposed by Beijing that has all however worn out public dissent.

Those that had been discovered responsible included former lawmakers Leung Kwok-hung, Lam Cheuk-ting, Helena Wong and Raymond Chan. However the three judges accredited by the federal government to supervise the case acquitted former district councilors Lee Yue-shun and Lawrence Lau. These convicted may resist life in jail.

They had been amongst 47 democracy advocates who had been prosecuted in 2021 for his or her involvement in an unofficial main election. Prosecutors had accused them of trying to paralyze Hong Kong’s authorities and topple town’s chief by securing the legislative majority essential to indiscriminately veto budgets.

Observers stated their subversion case illustrates how the safety legislation is getting used to crush the political opposition following large anti-government protests in 2019. However the Beijing and Hong Kong governments insist the legislation has helped convey again stability to town and that judicial independence is being protected.

When Britain handed Hong Kong again to China in 1997, Beijing promised to retain town’s Western-style civil liberties for 50 years. Nonetheless, for the reason that introduction of the 2020 legislation, Hong Kong authorities have severely restricted free speech and meeting underneath the rubric of sustaining nationwide safety. Many activists had been arrested, silenced or pressured into self-exile. Dozens of civil society teams disbanded.

In December, Jimmy Lai, a media tycoon, an outspoken Beijing-critic and free speech advocate, went on trial in Hong Kong on prices of colluding with overseas forces underneath that 2020 legislation. Supporters stated his actual offense, nonetheless, was criticizing China’s ruling Communist Social gathering and its crackdown on freedom in Hong Kong. His trial remains to be ongoing.

In August 2020, Hong Kong police raided the workplaces of Apple Every day, a preferred Chinese language-language tabloid owned by Lai, and took him into custody. He has been jailed ever since.

The prosecution of the first case entails pro-democracy activists throughout the spectrum. They embody authorized scholar Benny Tai, former scholar chief Joshua Wong and a dozen former lawmakers together with Leung Kwok-hung and Claudia Mo.

Thirty-one of them, together with Tai, Wong and Mo, pleaded responsible to the cost of conspiracy to commit subversion. They’ve a greater likelihood at shorter jail phrases and can be sentenced at a later date.

Sixteen others, together with Leung, pleaded not responsible and underwent a non-jury trial. After the verdicts, mitigation hearings can be scheduled to find out the sentences of these convicted.

Dozens of residents had lined up exterior the police-guarded courtroom constructing earlier than 6 a.m. Thursday to safe a seat within the public gallery for the verdicts. Some supporters who had been among the many first within the line got here as early as Wednesday night.

Social employee Stanley Chang, a buddy of one of many 16 defendants, stated he arrived the location at 4 a.m. as a result of he feared he couldn’t get a seat. Chang stated there have been only a few issues supporters may do for them and that attending the listening to is a sort of firm.

“I need to give some help for my buddy and the faces I noticed in information experiences,” he stated, who’s in his 30s.

SL Chiu, who solely gave his initials attributable to concern of presidency retribution, stated the listening to marked a historic second. To point out his help, he stated he had collected messages for the 47 activists from others in a sketchbook and deliberate to mail them if doable.

“Hong Kongers are nonetheless right here. We’ve not given up. We’re nonetheless with you all,” he stated.

On Wednesday night time, Lee Yue-shun, one of many accused, stated on Fb that Thursday was like a particular commencement ceremony for him, although commencement is normally about sharing happiness with households and pals,

“This maybe greatest displays the widespread helplessness of our era,” he stated.

The July 2020 main was meant to shortlist pro-democracy candidates who would then run within the official election. It drew an unexpectedly excessive turnout of 610,000 voters, representing over 13% of town’s registered voters.

The professional-democracy camp at the moment hoped they might safe a legislative majority, which might enable them to press for the 2019 protest calls for, together with better police accountability and democratic elections for town chief.

However the authorities postponed the legislative election that might have adopted the first, citing public well being dangers in the course of the coronavirus pandemic. The electoral legal guidelines had been later overhauled, drastically lowering the general public’s skill to vote and growing the variety of pro-Beijing lawmakers making choices for town within the legislature.

Beijing additionally had criticized the vote as a problem to the safety legislation, which criminalizes secession, subversion and collusion with overseas forces to intervene within the metropolis’s affairs, in addition to terrorism.