At least 45 pro-democracy activists sentenced in Hong Kong under national security law

The lawsuit was decided by a sheet of 3 government-approved judges, who ruled that the activists’ actions amounted to subversion. Two of the archetypal 47 defendants were acquitted.

Observers presumption the lawsuit arsenic a stark illustration of however dissent has been quashed successful Hong Kong pursuing monolithic anti-government protests successful 2019. This suppression has extended to media crackdowns and restrictions connected elections.

Critics reason it undermines Beijing’s earlier committedness to sphere the erstwhile British colony’s freedoms for 50 years aft its 1997 instrumentality to Chinese sovereignty. Authorities, however, support that the nationalist information instrumentality is indispensable for stableness successful the city.

Hong Kong activists and supporters march with a banner which reads ” Unite present successful solidarity with the Hong Kong 47 and different governmental prisoners” during a protestation commemorating the 10th day of the 2014 umbrella question and the 5th day of the anti-extradition instrumentality amendment measure question successful Taipei, Taiwan, June 9, 2024. (AP)

The defendants included salient figures specified arsenic Tai, erstwhile pupil person Joshua Wong, and ex-lawmakers. Most had already spent implicit 3 and a fractional years successful detention anterior to sentencing, which took a dense toll connected their families.

In court, immoderate activists expressed remorse and apologised, portion others remained defiant. Defence lawyers argued that respective defendants genuinely believed their actions were lawful astatine the time. Thirty-one of the convicted had entered blameworthy pleas, perchance paving the mode for reduced sentences nether the law’s provisions, which scope from nether 3 years for insignificant offences to 10 years to beingness for the astir superior cases.

The unofficial superior successful July 2020 attracted 610,000 voters and was intended to prime pro-democracy candidates for the authoritative legislative election. At the time, the question sought to propulsion for demands stemming from the 2019 protests, including greater constabulary accountability and antiauthoritarian reforms. However, the authorities postponed the authoritative election, citing COVID-19 concerns.

On the time of sentencing, much than 200 radical queued extracurricular the tribunal contempt rainfall and wind. Among them was Lee Yue-shun, 1 of the acquitted defendants, who said nationalist involvement successful the lawsuit was captious for Hong Kong’s future.

A protagonist known locally arsenic “Grandpa Wong,” estimated to beryllium astir 100 years old, expressed his privation to spot the convicted activists again. “I fearfulness I whitethorn not unrecorded to spot them erstwhile they are released,” helium said, arsenic reported by AP.

Clarisse Yeung’s friend, Wei Siu-lik, arrived astatine 4 a.m. contempt an injured leg. “I wanted them to cognize determination are inactive radical present for them,” she said.

The lawsuit highlights however Hong Kong’s pro-democracy question has been fundamentally reshaped nether the nationalist information law, with semipermanent implications for the city’s governmental landscape.

(With inputs from AP)