NEW DELHI: In a big improvement, a Hong Kong court docket has convicted 14 pro-democracy activists within the metropolis’s largest nationwide safety case below a legislation imposed by Beijing. The legislation has successfully suppressed public dissent within the metropolis. Amongst these discovered responsible had been former lawmakers Leung Kwok-hung, Lam Cheuk-ting, Helena Wong, and Raymond Chan. Nevertheless, two former district councilors, Lee Yue-shun and Lawrence Lau, had been acquitted by the three government-approved judges overseeing the case.
The defendants had been a part of a gaggle of 47 democracy advocates prosecuted in 2021 for his or her participation in an unofficial main election.Prosecutors alleged that they aimed to paralyze Hong Kong’s authorities and take away town’s chief by securing a legislative majority that will enable them to indiscriminately veto budgets.
The subversion case in opposition to the 16 defendants, who pleaded not responsible and underwent a non-jury trial, is anticipated to showcase how the safety legislation is getting used to crush political opposition within the wake of the large anti-government protests in 2019. The Beijing and Hong Kong governments preserve that the legislation has restored stability to town whereas preserving judicial independence.
When Hong Kong was returned to China by Britain in 1997, Beijing pledged to take care of town’s Western-style civil liberties for 50 years. Nevertheless, because the implementation of the 2020 safety legislation, Hong Kong authorities have drastically curtailed free speech and meeting below the pretext of sustaining nationwide safety. Many activists have been arrested, silenced, or compelled into self-exile, and quite a few civil society teams have disbanded.
The prosecution of the first case entails a variety of pro-democracy activists, together with authorized scholar Benny Tai, former pupil chief Joshua Wong, and a dozen former lawmakers corresponding to Leung Kwok-hung and Claudia Mo. Thirty-one of them, together with Tai, Wong, and Mo, pleaded responsible to the cost of conspiracy to commit subversion and are anticipated to obtain shorter jail phrases at a later sentencing date.
Supporters of the defendants gathered outdoors the police-guarded court docket constructing as early as Wednesday night to safe seats within the public gallery for the two-day listening to beginning on Thursday.
Social employee Stanley Chang, a buddy of one of many 16 defendants, arrived at 4 a.m. to point out help and supply a way of companionship. SL Chiu, one other supporter, collected messages for the 47 activists in a sketchbook to mail to them, expressing the sentiment that “Hong Kongers are nonetheless right here. We have not given up. We’re nonetheless with you all.”
The July 2020 main aimed to shortlist pro-democracy candidates for the official election, drawing an unexpectedly excessive turnout of 610,000 voters, representing over 13 p.c of town’s registered citizens. The professional-democracy camp hoped to safe a legislative majority to press for the calls for of the 2019 protests, together with higher police accountability and democratic elections for town chief.
Nevertheless, the federal government postponed the legislative election, citing public well being dangers in the course of the coronavirus pandemic, and later overhauled the electoral legal guidelines, considerably lowering the general public’s capability to vote and rising the variety of pro-Beijing lawmakers within the legislature.
The defendants had been a part of a gaggle of 47 democracy advocates prosecuted in 2021 for his or her participation in an unofficial main election.Prosecutors alleged that they aimed to paralyze Hong Kong’s authorities and take away town’s chief by securing a legislative majority that will enable them to indiscriminately veto budgets.
The subversion case in opposition to the 16 defendants, who pleaded not responsible and underwent a non-jury trial, is anticipated to showcase how the safety legislation is getting used to crush political opposition within the wake of the large anti-government protests in 2019. The Beijing and Hong Kong governments preserve that the legislation has restored stability to town whereas preserving judicial independence.
When Hong Kong was returned to China by Britain in 1997, Beijing pledged to take care of town’s Western-style civil liberties for 50 years. Nevertheless, because the implementation of the 2020 safety legislation, Hong Kong authorities have drastically curtailed free speech and meeting below the pretext of sustaining nationwide safety. Many activists have been arrested, silenced, or compelled into self-exile, and quite a few civil society teams have disbanded.
The prosecution of the first case entails a variety of pro-democracy activists, together with authorized scholar Benny Tai, former pupil chief Joshua Wong, and a dozen former lawmakers corresponding to Leung Kwok-hung and Claudia Mo. Thirty-one of them, together with Tai, Wong, and Mo, pleaded responsible to the cost of conspiracy to commit subversion and are anticipated to obtain shorter jail phrases at a later sentencing date.
Supporters of the defendants gathered outdoors the police-guarded court docket constructing as early as Wednesday night to safe seats within the public gallery for the two-day listening to beginning on Thursday.
Social employee Stanley Chang, a buddy of one of many 16 defendants, arrived at 4 a.m. to point out help and supply a way of companionship. SL Chiu, one other supporter, collected messages for the 47 activists in a sketchbook to mail to them, expressing the sentiment that “Hong Kongers are nonetheless right here. We have not given up. We’re nonetheless with you all.”
The July 2020 main aimed to shortlist pro-democracy candidates for the official election, drawing an unexpectedly excessive turnout of 610,000 voters, representing over 13 p.c of town’s registered citizens. The professional-democracy camp hoped to safe a legislative majority to press for the calls for of the 2019 protests, together with higher police accountability and democratic elections for town chief.
Nevertheless, the federal government postponed the legislative election, citing public well being dangers in the course of the coronavirus pandemic, and later overhauled the electoral legal guidelines, considerably lowering the general public’s capability to vote and rising the variety of pro-Beijing lawmakers within the legislature.
