Defendants and their loved ones prepare for the ‘Hong Kong 47’ sentence

STORY: Dozens of pro-democracy campaigners will be sentenced in Hong Kong on Tuesday, ending a marathon trial of 47 democrats in a years-long subversion case.

Emilia Wong is the girlfriend of one of the defendants, Ventus Lau.

He has made hundreds of prison visits since his arrest in 2021.

He went to prison again on Friday, but this time he brought with him a new black jacket, new shoes and a new pair of glasses for Lau to wear at Tuesday’s hearing.

Her boyfriend and others expect sentences ranging from several years to life in prison.

Wong says he feels calm by taking each day as it comes.

“My relationship with him is stuck… not stuck, but it hasn’t changed for three years and eight months and it may continue that way in the future. I feel powerless.”

“It would be embarrassing for me to even think about leaving him. It feels like I’m drifting. But I try to live within the boundaries of this relationship and live day to day as best I can.”

Democrats in Hong Kong enjoyed wide-ranging freedoms under the “one country, two systems” formula after Britain returned the city to Chinese rule in 1997.

But in 2020, a year after pro-democracy protests swept the city, China filed a lawsuit in which Wong’s boyfriend and 46 other democrats were charged with “conspiracy to subvert state power” for organizing and taking part in an unofficial terrorist act. enacted the national security law. Primary election in July 2020.

More than 600,000 people voted in this poll.

It was seen as a symbolic protest against the National Security Act, as participants defied warnings from officials that the vote might be illegal.

Reuters spoke to lawyers and relatives of half a dozen defendants who said the convictions silenced some of the most popular and committed pro-democracy voices.

In May this year, 14 of 47 democrats were found guilty of conspiracy to commit subversion, and two were acquitted.

Others pleaded guilty in the hope of reducing sentences.

Wong says this case has wiped out the entire pro-democracy camp in Hong Kong.

“They have experienced a kind of social death and are temporarily dead in the political arena. That’s right, they’re all caught in one web.”

Legal experts say the treatment of Democrats is a departure from the city’s common law traditions.

Most were denied bail and all were denied a jury trial.

Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies, said the case of the 47 democrats showed that even moderate opposition to the Hong Kong government could get people into trouble.

“And the prosecution of 47 people is clearly intended by the authorities to set a signal that if you try to do something like this you will face very severe consequences. And the range of people caught in this 47-person web will show that even people who are known to be very, very moderate can be caught in the web. So you don’t have to be a fervent activist to find yourself at risk. Moderates are also at risk.”

Hong Kong officials say the legal process is impartial while condemning criticism from Western democracies. Beijing also maintains that Hong Kong’s autonomy remains intact.

The USA described the case and the guilty verdicts as “politically motivated” and demanded the release of the defendants.