The city’s High Court convicted 45 activists for organizing intra-opposition primary elections in 2020. They include well-known names such as jurist Benny Tai and umbrella movement leader Joshua Wong. Many pleaded guilty to get a reduced sentence, but none were sentenced to less than 4 years. The Card. Zen was also present in the courtroom to hear the verdict. And tomorrow the trial against Jimmy Lai resumes.
Hong Kong (/Agencies) – The national security law imposed by Beijing in the city of Hong Kong sentenced 45 pro-democracy militants to prison, guilty of organizing primaries to elect opposition candidates. Among them are former law professor Benny Tai, sentenced to the harshest sentence of 10 years for “conspiracy for purposes of subversion,” and Joshua Wong, a student and activist who also became famous outside the country for the “subversion movement.” umbrellas”, who was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison.
The Hong Kong High Court issued the verdict this morning, closing after 1,400 days a case that began on January 6, 2021 with the arrest of dozens of activists. Those who were part of the “Hong Kong 47” group were formally charged on February 28, 2021; Since then, most of them were in preventive detention.
Benny Tai initially received a 15-year sentence, which was reduced to 10 years when the three judges – specially chosen by the pro-China local government to try cases related to the national security law – acknowledged his admission of guilt. “The only mitigating factor in Tai’s case was his early guilty plea,” which corresponds to the “usual one-third reduction” of the sentence, the ruling says.
In May, in a separate verdict in which two Group of 47 activists were acquitted, High Court judges said Tai’s aim was to “undermine, destroy or overthrow the existing political system and structure of Hong Kong established by the fundamental law and the policy of “one country, two systems”, plunging the city into a “constitutional crisis.”
In reality, the pro-democracy movement of July 2020 had attempted to identify candidates who could represent the opposition in the elections for the Legislative Council (the local Parliament), with the aim of defeating the pro-Beijing forces. The elections – which should have been held in September 2020 – were postponed, with the justification of the pandemic, until the end of 2021. By then the main activists and legislators had been confined to jail or forced into exile, and no democratic candidate could stand for election. However, the primaries took place peacefully and had the participation of 600,000 people.
Other members of the movement also pleaded guilty and received a reduced sentence. Former district councilor Andrew Chiu was sentenced to 7 years, a sentence reduced to half of what was initially expected for having collaborated with the prosecution, along with Au Nok-hin, Ben Chung and Mike Lam. Instead, activist Owen Chow received a sentence of seven years and nine months to be served separately from a five-year sentence for rioting. The Hong Kong court ruled that Chow played the role of initiator, launching an online petition to gather names of potential candidates, whom Beijing considers “radical.” According to the Court, this fact constitutes an aggravating circumstance.
The former journalist of Stand NewsGwyneth Ho, who did not present mitigating claims, was sentenced to seven years in prison. Leung Kwok-hung, an activist and former member of the Legislative Assembly – who had already been charged with 24 previous charges, most of them related to unorganized assemblies – was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison. None of them received a sentence of less than four years. Joshua Wong, who was not granted sentence reductions because judges did not consider him a person of “good morals,” shouted “I love Hong Kong” before leaving the dock. Dozens of people attended the hearing, including Cardinal Joseph Zen. A woman standing in front of the Courts building holding a sign that said “Righteous people live, bad people must die” was taken into a police van.
According to the Hong Kong Democracy Council, an organization based in Washington, United States, the ruling constitutes “an attack on the essence of Hong Kong, which yearns for freedom, democracy and the right of political expression.” “This is a decidedly hostile demonstration of repression against Hong Kong citizens who dare to stand up and speak out for their rights,” added director Anna Kwok, noting that another 1,900 political prisoners remain imprisoned in Hong Kong, “who are already “It is not autonomous enough.”
Beijing has defended the local court’s decisions and said the convictions serve as a warning to those seeking to undermine China’s national security. “No one can participate in illegal activities in the name of democracy and escape justice,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said this morning in a statement, also expressing its displeasure at the fact that Western countries “discredit and weaken the State.” of law in Hong Kong”.
Along with the trial that ended today, there are two other major symbolic trials in Hong Kong in application of the national security law. That of Jimmy Lai, founder of the pro-democracy newspaper AppleDailywould resume tomorrow with a hearing in which the defendant’s testimony should begin in the courtroom. This trial began in December 2023, when Lai had already spent more than 1,000 days in jail, and his testimony and cross-examination will require three to four weeks. Activists Lee Cheuk-yan, Albert Ho and Chow Hang-tung – charged more than three years ago with organizing vigils in memory of the Tiananmen Square events – remain held in protective custody pending trial, which It should start on May 7 next year.
Add Comment