breaking | breaking Hong Kong 47: Benny Tai sentenced to 10 years in prison for mastermind role in 'primaries'

Benny Tai Yiu-ting, a former legal academic who launched an unofficial “primary election” in Hong Kong four years ago, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiring to subvert state power.

The 60-year-old man is among 45 opposition politicians and activists sentenced to prison on Tuesday, among a group of 47 people tried in a major national security case related to unofficial elections.

Tai, a former law professor at the University of Hong Kong, floated the idea of holding the primaries at the height of social unrest in 2019 to boost the opposition camp’s chances of winning a majority in the Legislative Council in the next originally scheduled election. For September 2020.

The aim of winning the majority, he argued, was to turn the legislature into a “lethal constitutional weapon” that could force officials to accept protesters’ demands.

Three trial judges had previously found that the unofficial survey was part of a broader conspiracy to “weaken, destroy or overthrow” the city government. constitutional crisis After gaining the majority in the parliament.

Before the sentencing hearing, citizens lined up to enter the courthouse. Photo: “Sam Tsang”

They said that if the conspiracy were successful, it would seriously interfere with, disrupt or weaken the functioning of the government, causing serious damage to “the power and authority of the head of the government and the executive.”

The maximum penalty for the crime is life imprisonment; “real criminals” are sentenced to at least 10 years behind bars.

Related Posts