45 pro-democracy activists jailed in Hong Kong’s biggest national security case

Forty-five former politicians and activists have been sentenced to four to 10 years in prison in Hong Kong’s biggest national security case under a law imposed by Beijing 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 canceled 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 politician 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 primaries took place on July 10 and 11, no one even remotely mentioned the fact that the primary was nothing more than an academic exercise and that this plan was absolutely unfeasible,” 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.

Journalist-turned-activist Gwyneth Ho, who was sentenced to seven years in prison, wrote on her Facebook page: “Our real crime for Beijing is that we are not content to participate in manipulated elections.”

“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.

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 staleness in its 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.

Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, said in a statement that the sentence was “an insult not only to the people of Hong Kong, but also to those who value rights and freedoms around the world”.

He condemned the “sham” sentences and called on the British government not to let the consequences of the case go unnoticed. He said the activists are an integral part of the city’s pro-democracy movement.

Meanwhile, the US Consulate in Hong Kong said America strongly condemned the penalties.

“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.

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