justice declares fourteen pro-democracy activists “guilty” of subversion

Hong Kong justice declared, Thursday, May 30, fourteen pro-democracy activists “guilty” of subversion. It is the largest trial against democracy supporters in the financial hub since Beijing introduced a national security law there. It is also the biggest case to date linked to this law promulgated in mid-2020 which crushed all dissent in Hong Kong following major pro-democracy demonstrations, sometimes violent, in 2019 in this southern Chinese territory. .

In total, authorities have charged 47 leading opposition figures from across the political spectrum for “conspiracy for the purposes of subversion”, claiming that their political activities were aimed at bringing down the government. Justice ruled on Thursday in the case of the sixteen accused who, among the 47, had pleaded not guilty.

High Court Judge Andrew Chan on Thursday declined to name fourteen defendants found guilty of subversion, including former MPs Leung Kwok-hung (nicknamed “ Long Hair “, “long hair”) and Ray Chan, as well as former journalist Gwyneth Ho. On the other hand, the court found two former district councilors not guilty. Sentencing is expected later this year.

Alleged acts punishable by life imprisonment

The convicted activists planned to undermine the government’s authority and, “in our opinion, this would have led to a constitutional crisis for Hong Kong”, wrote three hand-picked High Court judges. Most of the accused have been behind bars since 2021.

All were accused in 2021 of “conspiracy to commit acts of subversion”acts punishable by life imprisonment, after having organized, a year earlier, an unofficial primary intended to select opposition candidates for the legislative elections.

Their goal was to obtain a majority in the city’s partially elected assembly, in order to veto budgets and potentially force Hong Kong’s then-pro-Beijing leader, Carrie Lam, to resign, according to the floor.

The defense argued that the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, which serves as the Constitution, provided the mechanisms enabling this project, and that it was therefore a matter of“a purely political question rather than a legal question”.

The trial was held without a jury – a departure from Hong Kong judicial tradition. The affair was nevertheless closely followed by the international community. Diplomats from the French and Italian consulates and others from the European Union visited the court on Thursday. The United States and other Western countries have criticized Beijing, saying it is reducing the freedoms promised when the former British colony was handed over to China in 1997.

American sanctions

The arrest of the main defendants in January 2021, including Leung Kwok-hung, lawyer Benny Tai and former pro-democracy MP Claudia Mo, led the United States to impose sanctions on six Chinese and Hong Kong officials. Benny Tai and Claudia Mo have decided to plead guilty. The United States Consul General in Hong Kong, Gregory May, announced in May that Washington would “closely monitor the expected verdicts and their convictions”.

This week, Hong Kong police announced they had arrested seven people in two days for the Facebook post of “messages of a seditious nature”. The arrests are the first in connection with a new national security law that took effect in March and provides for prison sentences of up to life for five categories of crimes, including treason, insurrection, espionage, sabotage and external interference.

This text also removed the possibility of a one-third sentence reduction for good behavior for people convicted on grounds of national security, which dealt a blow to the 31 pro-democracy defendants who had chosen to plead guilty with the hope of a possible early release.