Hong Kong——A Hongkong On Thursday, a court found 14 of 16 pro-democracy activists guilty of conspiracy to commit subversion. The largest single case in China under sweep national security law imposed by Beijing.
Two of the defendants, Liu Weizhong and Li Yushun, were found not guilty.
The defendants, who could be sentenced to life in prison, are among 47 politicians, academics and other pro-democracy figures accused of conspiring to subvert for their role in the unofficial primary. Hong Kong’s High Court will deliver its verdict over two days, Thursday and Friday.
Critics say the trial is emblematic of the international financial center’s liberal crackdown on dissent after massive anti-government protests in 2019.
“This trial is not just a trial of these 47 individuals,” said Eric Yan-ho Lai, a researcher at the Georgetown Asia Law Center. “This is a trial of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.”
Most of the 47 people have been held without bail since being charged in early 2021.
The 47 people range in age from their 20s to their 60s, and include legal scholar Tai Yiu-ting, former pro-democracy legislator Claudia Mau and Joshua WongBest known internationally as a leader of the 2014 pro-democracy protests. They went on trial in February 2023 and have been awaiting a verdict since the end of December.
Hong Kong’s conviction rate in national security cases is 100%, and the prosecution rules for these cases are different from Hong Kong’s legal norms, including the presumption of no bail. Nearly 300 people have been arrested under the national security law that came into effect in summer 2020.
The charges stem from unofficial primaries held in July 2020, in which more than 600,000 voters elected pro-democracy candidates for legislative elections scheduled for September. Several primary candidates have vowed to repeatedly veto the government’s proposed budget in order to force lawmakers to resign. Carrie LamThe city leader at the time was seen as resisting the democratic demands of the 2019 protesters.
Officials warned at the time that the election could violate a national security law Beijing imposed less than two weeks ago in response to the 2019 protests that roiled Hong Kong for months and sometimes turned violent.
Hong Kong and Chinese officials say the law, which criminalizes secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign powers, is necessary to restore stability. But critics say it triggered a widespread crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong.
In January 2021, more than 50 activists were arrested in connection with the unofficial primary election, 47 of whom were later charged. Officials have postponed legislative elections, citing the pandemic. Held in December 2021 Electoral laws were overhauled to ensure that only “patriots” could run for office. They pointed to Dai Bingguo, the main organizer of the primary, saying that pro-democracy lawmakers could use their legislative majorities as a “constitutional weapon.”
Lawyers for the defendants argued that the tactics their clients planned to use were constitutional and that subversion of state power could not be “illegal” unless it involved physical violence or criminal conduct.
Those who pleaded guilty, including four who testified for prosecutors, may have been hoping for sentences to be reduced by up to a third. They will be sentenced later.
The 14 defendants convicted Thursday will also have the opportunity to request lighter sentences at a later hearing.
Some, like Huang, have already been jailed after being charged in multiple other cases related to the 2019 protests or the ban on monuments to the 1989 victims. Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Even those who were not serving other sentences were mostly detained for more than three years, missing time with their families as trials were repeatedly delayed. One of them is former Democratic Party leader Hu Zhiwei, who has lost both parents since being detained.
Lai co-wrote Report on national security crackdown An article published in March said that the Hong Kong trial of No. 47 showed that “the separation of powers or the independence of the judiciary are no longer as autonomous as before.” “The national security agenda is now being extended to all areas of Hong Kong’s rule of law,” he said, referring to the city. city nearest Ban the 2019 protest song “Glory to Hong Kong”. “This is not just a criminal court issue.”
Citing what happened last year, the Hong Kong government said Hong Kong continues to implement the rule of law Rule of law index According to the World Justice Project, Hong Kong ranks 23rd out of 142 countries and regions, three places higher than the United States.
In March this year, Hong Kong’s opposition-free legislature unanimously passed Hong Kong’s national security law. Known locally as Article 23. Six people were arrested for the first time under the law, accused of publishing inflammatory posts on social media. announced on tuesday.
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