On Thursday, judges delivered their verdicts for 16 of the 47 Hong Kong democrats within the town’s biggest nationwide safety trial to age. 31 of them had prior to now pleaded accountable, and a number of the extra 16, 14 have been convicted and two have been acquitted. All of the team used to be arrested in January 2021 and after charged with subversion for collaborating in an unofficial number one forward of the Legislative Council election. Their convictions, happening simply days next the primary arrests beneath town’s Article 23 nationwide safety legislation, underscore the shrinking territory for self-rule advocacy in Hong Kong. Jessie Pang and James Pomfret from Reuters reported at the verdicts, which might supremacy to sentences as prime as age in jail:
The verdicts in Hong Kong’s largest trial towards the democratic opposition come greater than 3 years next police arrested 47 democrats in crack of dawn raids at houses around the town. They have been charged with conspiracy to devote subversion beneath a countrywide safety legislation imposed via China.
Sentencing will come at a after age for the ones discovered accountable, with jail phrases starting from 3 years to age. Thirty-one defendants pleaded accountable, and 4 of them have change into prosecution eyewitnesses.
[…] The defendants are accused of a “vicious plot” to paralyse govt within the former British colony and power town’s chief to renounce via a pre-selection poll in a July 2020 citywide election. The democrats uphold it used to be an unofficial effort to choose the most powerful applicants in a bid to win a historical majority in Hong Kong’s legislature.
Summarising their verdict, Judges Andrew Chan, Alex Lee and Johnny Chan wrote that if the defendants had succeeded, it will have created “a constitutional crisis for Hong Kong” and ended in “serious interfering in, disrupting or undermining the performance of duties and functions in accordance with the law by the (Hong Kong) government.” [Source]
The Hong Kong Independent Press, which has a complete archive at the Hong Kong 47’s three-year trial, reported that town’s justice segment will even effort to attraction the 2 acquittals:
Lawrence Lau and Lee Yue-shun have been acquitted via a panel of 3 Top Court docket judges on Thursday morning – changing into the primary two public attempted beneath the Beijing-imposed safety legislation to be cleared in their fees.
Director of Community Prosecutions Maggie Yang on Thursday afternoon stated that she had won instruction from Secretary for Justice Paul Lam that the justice segment would search to attraction the acquittal of Lau and Lee.
Representing Lee, barrister Steven Kwan stated the judges had dominated that his shopper’s testimony had a “ring of truth” and the prosecution might handiest problem the acquittal via elevating a query of legislation. The attorney stated the court docket must imagine the probabilities of good fortune of the attraction ahead of subjecting Lee to a listing of bail situations pending attraction. [Source]
Lots of the defendants who have been denied bail have spent over 3 years in pretrial detention. “The fact that they were arrested and convicted and even put behind bars for so long before the verdict manifests a fundamental change in Hong Kong’s political environment: Free election, even the pretension of a free election, is gone,” Ho-fung Hung, knowledgeable on Hong Kong politics at Johns Hopkins College, advised The Brandnew York Instances. Jessie Yeung, Nectar Gan, and Chris Lau from CNN described how this nationwide safety case departed from hour prison precedent and imported prison norms in mainland China:
Like any nationwide safety circumstances to this point, the trial of the Hong Kong 47 used to be heard and not using a jury, irregular from the ordinary legislation custom, an influence granted via the Beijing-imposed legislation. It used to be additionally presided over via a bench of 3 Top Court docket Judges designated via town’s Government to take care of nationwide safety circumstances.
The legislation additionally playgrounds a better threshold for bail. Thirty-two defendants had been denied bail and feature been in detention since 2021 – a extremely abnormal follow for circumstances that don’t contain homicide. Simplest 15 have been granted bail, however two of them had their software revoked after for breaching bail situations.
The trial introduced the imposition of mainland prison ideas, mainland legislation into the ordinary legislation gadget into genius diversion, stated John Burns, emeritus mentor on the College of Hong Kong.
“It’s absolutely clear that the national security law reduced the independence and the autonomy of the judiciary. No juries, much more difficult to get bail – those are all things that previously were determined by the judges.” [Source]
Eric Lai, a analysis fellow on the Georgetown Heart for Asian Regulation, advised the BBC that this used to be “a trial of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement,” and Luminous Cheung, who ran within the July 2020 number one however fled town, added, “These verdicts effectively wipe out the whole political opposition in Hong Kong.” Christian Shepherd, Shibani Mahtani, and Vic Chiang from The Washington Put up described how the decision alerts govt’s get to the bottom of to root out any opposition:
“The ruling makes clear that the government will no longer tolerate any meaningful opposition,” stated Alvin Cheung, laborer mentor at Queen’s College in Canada and a former barrister in Hong Kong. “If the lawful use of legislative powers amounts to subversion, one has to wonder whether there remains any scope for dissent in the legislature.”
[…] Some fear, too, that the ruling may have implications past the ones defendants. Little retail outlets, as an example, allowed their areas to be old as venues for the unofficial number one and may just in finding themselves implicated.
“The authorities could use the case as jurisprudence to accuse people who [rented] their shops to become makeshift polling stations and volunteers who [ran] the stations as co-conspirators,” stated Michael Mo, a former district councilor in Hong Kong who now lives in exile in the UK. Amid the increasingly more tight condition for dissent in Hong Kong, “presumption of innocence is no longer there,” Mo stated. [Source]
On Twitter, reporters and activists shared tales of one of the defendants:
The Related Press gathered essential reactions to the decision via human rights teams and Western governments:
The conviction “marks a further deterioration of fundamental freedoms and democratic participation in Hong Kong,” the Ecu Union’s overseas affairs place of job stated. It added that the defendants “are being penalized for peaceful political activity that should be legitimate in any political system that respects basic democratic principles.”
[…] Sarah Brooks of Amnesty Global referred to as the convictions the “most ruthless illustration yet of how Hong Kong’s National Security Law is weaponized to silence dissent.” She stated the convictions ship a chilling message to any person who opposes the movements of the federal government.
Maya Wang, the performing China director at Human Rights Observe, stated the conviction presentations “utter contempt” for each democratic political processes and the rule of thumb of legislation.
“Democracy is not a crime, regardless of what the Chinese government and its handpicked Hong Kong court may say,” she stated. [Source]
Kaliz Lee, Brian Wong, and Jeffie Lam from the South China Morning Put up summarized the after steps on this nationwide safety case:
Later the decision, the court docket is anticipated to eager dates for listening to pleas for mitigation from any person convicted, together with the 31 accused who’ve determined to confess legal responsibility.
The defence may be anticipated to construct submissions at the degree of culpability in their shoppers and the best sentencing length to be carried out.
The nationwide safety legislation adopts a three-tier gadget in classifying offenders discovered accountable of subversion, with a “principal offender” at risk of a minimal sentence of 10 years in prison.
A sentence of 3 to ten years applies to an perpetrator who “actively participates in the offence” and lesser consequences for “other participants”.
The mitigation hearings are anticipated to be held next Jimmy Lai Chee-ying’s nationwide safety trial is adjourned after hour, as one of the most judges is keen on each circumstances. [Source]
