45 pro-democracy activists sentenced to prison in Hong Kong’s biggest national security case

Forty-five former lawmakers and activists were sentenced to four to 10 years in prison on Tuesday in Hong Kong’s biggest national security case under a Beijing-imposed law that has crushed the once-thriving pro-democracy movement.

They were prosecuted under the 2020 national security law for their role in an unofficial primary election. Prosecutors said their aim was to paralyze Hong Kong’s government and force the city’s leader to resign by aiming to win a legislative majority and using it to indiscriminately block government budgets. 610,000 voters participated in the unofficial primary election in July 2020, and the winners were expected to advance to the official election. However, authorities postponed the official legislative elections, citing public health risks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Legal scholar Benny Tai, whom the judges called the mastermind, was sentenced to the longest prison sentence of 10 years. Judges said that the sentences were reduced for the defendants who said they did not know that the plan was against the law.

But the court said the sentences were not reduced because Tai and former MP Alvin Yeung were lawyers who were “absolutely determined to press for the implementation of the plan.”

In the decision posted online, the justices wrote that Tai essentially “advocated revolution” by publishing a series of articles tracing his thoughts over a period of months; but Tai said in a letter requesting a shorter sentence that those steps “never” happened. It is intended to be used as a blueprint for any political action.”

Two of the 47 main defendants were acquitted earlier this year. The rest either pleaded guilty or were found guilty of conspiracy to commit subversion. In their ruling, the justices said activists’ plans to push for change through unofficial primary elections would undermine the government’s authority and create a constitutional crisis. The judges rejected some defendants’ reasoning that the plan would never come to fruition, stating that “all participants made every effort to make it a success.”

The judges emphasized that a large amount of time, resources and money were devoted to the organization of the primary.

“When the Primary Election took place on July 10 and 11, no one even remotely mentioned the fact that the Primary Election was nothing more than an academic exercise and that the Plan was absolutely unachievable,” the decision said. “There may be obstacles that organizers and participants must overcome to be successful, but this is to be expected in any case of subversion where efforts are made to overthrow or paralyze a government.”

Some of the defendants waved to their relatives in the courtroom after their sentences.

“For Beijing, our real crime is not just participating in manipulated elections,” Gwyneth Ho, a journalist-turned-activist who was sentenced to seven years in prison, said on her Facebook page.

“We had the courage to confront the regime with this question: Is democracy possible within such a structure? “The answer was total repression on every front of society,” he wrote.

Chan Po-ying, wife of defendant Leung Kwok-hung, told reporters she was not surprised to learn that her husband had been sentenced to six years and nine months in prison. He said they were trying to use some of the rights granted by the city’s mini-constitution to pressure those in power to appeal to the will of the people.

“This is an unjust arrest. They should not be kept in jail even for a day,” said Chan, who is also the president of the Union of Social Democrats, one of the city’s pro-democracy parties. Ventus Lau’s girlfriend, Emilia Wong, said the prison sentence was within her expectations. The sentence was within the history of history He said it was in his “middle phase” and he couldn’t see the end point at the moment, but he promised to support Lau as much as he could.

Claudia Mo’s husband, Philip Bowring, was relieved to hear the sentences were finally handed down.

Observers said the hearing also revealed how authorities suppressed dissent after major anti-government protests in 2019, as well as a crackdown on the media and a reduction in public choice in elections. Officials said the sweeping changes reflected Beijing’s growing obsolete promise to protect the former British colony’s civil liberties for 50 years when it returned to China in 1997.

The governments of Beijing and Hong Kong have insisted that the national security law is necessary for the city’s stability.

The sentence drew criticism from foreign governments and human rights organizations.

The US Consulate in Hong Kong said the US strongly condemns the sentences handed down to 45 pro-democracy advocates and former lawmakers.

“The defendants were aggressively prosecuted and imprisoned for their peaceful participation in normal political activities protected under the Hong Kong Basic Law,” the statement said, referring to the city’s mini-constitution. It was said.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters that no one should be allowed to use democracy as an excuse to engage in illegal activities and evade justice.

Hong Kong Security Minister Chris Tang told a news conference that the sentences showed that those who committed national security crimes should be severely punished.

The demolition case involved a wide range of pro-democracy activists. These include Tai, former student leader Joshua Wong and former MPs. Wong was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison. Young activist Owen Chow was given the second longest prison sentence of seven years and nine months. Most had already been detained for more than three and a half years before sentencing. The separation upset them and their families. More than 200 people, including Lee Yue-shun, one of the acquitted defendants, lined up to be in court in the rain and wind on Tuesday morning. Lee said he hopes the public shows they care about the case.

“Public interpretation and understanding has a far-reaching impact on the future development of our society,” he said. Wei Siu-lik, a friend of convicted activist Clarisse Yeung, said she arrived at 4 a.m. even though her leg was injured. “I wanted to let them know that there are still a lot of people coming here to get them,” he said.

31 of the activists pleaded guilty and had a better chance of receiving a reduced sentence. The law allows for a range of sentences, depending on the seriousness of the crime and the defendant’s role in it, from less than three years for the mildest offenses to up to 10 years to life imprisonment for people convicted of “serious” crimes.