A verdict is finally imminent in Hong Kong’s largest and longest national security trial of 47 pro-democracy lawmakers and political activists, with the defendants having together served 39,000 days or around 108 years in pre-trial detention even before the trial began. of the trial sentence.
The group was first arrested by the territory’s national security police during a pre-dawn crackdown on January 6, 2021, for allegedly conspiring to commit “subversion” by organizing an unofficial primary election to choose pro-democracy candidates in July. 2020. The defendants include the alleged organizers, as well as candidates who hoped to win the primaries and run in the semi-democratic legislative council elections, which were ultimately canceled, with prosecutors alleging it was an attempt to “overthrow ” the government.
Two-thirds of the defendants have been in pre-trial detention since a marathon bail hearing in March 2021.
On Thursday, a panel of three hand-picked national security judges will begin to give their verdict to the 16 defendants who declared themselves “not guilty”.
The decision follows a long trial that ran from February to December 2023 and was delayed not only by COVID-19 outbreaks, but also by the mere logistics of organizing such a huge undertaking.
Despite the long wait for the verdict, the conclusion appears lost, said Eric Lai, a researcher at the Georgetown Asian Law Center in the United States.
Lai said that as early as 2020, Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong had already expressed its discontent with the primary vote and accused participants of “subversion”, setting the tone for the government’s response to come. In a single sweep, the national security police managed to silence an entire generation of pro-democracy activists and lawmakers, he added.
“Most of these defendants are not just individual participants, they are former lawmakers, former political party figures and key figures in the opposition force,” Lai told Al Jazeera. “They were the icons of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement in the past. During this trial, it seems very possible that they will be convicted according to the Beijing manuscript.”
The question is whether the 47 planned to use their positions in the legislative council – if they won the elections – to veto Hong Kong’s annual budget, a move that would have forced the city’s top leader to resign and dissolve the legislature.
At the time, there was some competition for seats in the legislature, with some members chosen through direct election (rules were changed in 2021 to require pre-screening of all candidates to ensure only “patriots” could run).
A record number of at least 600,000 Hong Kong people turned out for the unofficial primaries, with the long queues seen as a rebuke to the Hong Kong government.
A year earlier, in 2019, the city was swept by mass anti-government protests. The democratic camp won that year’s district council elections and hoped to build on this support in the Legislative Council. With protesters’ demands largely unmet, vetoing the budget seemed one of the opposition’s few remaining tools and, according to defendant Gwenyth Ho, a former reporter, it was her constitutional right under Hong Kong’s Basic Law.
For their involvement, the defendants face a maximum sentence of life in prison under the security law imposed by Beijing in 2020, although this charge is reserved for “first-time offenders” or anyone whom prosecutors have identified as a leader.
Lower-level “offenders” can face between three and 10 years in prison for “active” participation, while “other participants” can face up to three years in prison.
A guilty plea generally earns defendants a reduced sentence, but it is unclear whether the national security court will follow convention.
Legislators, nurses, lawyers
Ranging in age from 20 to 60, the 47 include some of Hong Kong’s most high-profile opposition figures, including Benny Tai, 59, a legal scholar and one of the alleged organizers; democratic activist Joshua Wong, 27; former journalist and congresswoman Claudia Mo, 67; and longtime activist Leung Kwok-hung, 68, popularly known as “Long Hair.”
Other defendants also dedicated their lives to public service, but maintained a lower profile. They include 47-year-old Gordon Ng, a dual Australian citizen who was portrayed by prosecutors as the organizer of the elections and who was repeatedly denied Australian consular assistance. He is among 16 who have pleaded not guilty.
The other three named organizers, lawmakers Au Nok-him, 33; André Chiu, 38; and Ben Chung, 35, pleaded guilty and testified as witnesses for the prosecution, in a move seen as part of an effort to obtain a reduced sentence. Mike Lam, 35, a businessman and member of the 47, also testified in favor of the prosecution.
Other defendants include Winnie Yu, 37, a nurse from Hong Kong, who has pleaded not guilty and has been detained since 2021. Before that, she helped organize protests by hospital staff in early 2020 to demand that the city close its border with Hong Kong. China after the COVID outbreak. -19.
Owen Chow, 26, an activist and former nursing student, and former reporter Gwyneth Ho, 33, pleaded not guilty and were some of the few defendants of the 47 who testified at the trial in their own defense.
During his trial last July, Ho reportedly told prosecutors that the 47 hoped pro-democracy candidates might be disqualified from running for public office after the election primaries – but it was still worth the effort because the people of Hong Kong could “build something new,” according to Hong Kong Free Press.
“I believe the majority of Hong Kongers knew deep in their hearts that fighting for democracy under Chinese communist rule has always been a fantasy,” Ho told the court in Cantonese.
She also said the disqualifications could create a “legitimacy crisis” for Beijing abroad because it would appear to go against the wishes of the Hong Kong people.
Hong Kong lawyer and former district councilor Lawrence Lau Wai-chung, 56, pleaded not guilty and defended himself on the stand. Before being arrested, he helped defend young protesters arrested during the 2019 pro-democracy protests in the city. He was also one of the few defendants granted bail.
Clarisse Yeung, 37, a former district councilor with a background in visual arts, pleaded not guilty and was one of those who refused to testify. She was also taken to hospital with exhaustion during her three-day bail hearing in March 2021 and, like Lau, was granted bail.
Even after the verdict is read, the trial of the 47 will not end. The trial will then proceed to the sentencing and mitigation phase, when judges will consider each defendant’s circumstances.
Lai told Al Jazeera it could take up to six months to reach its full conclusion, and any defendant free on bail could have their bail revoked.
Once convicted, defendants will not be able to get time off for “good behavior” thanks to recent changes to Hong Kong law. Earlier this year, the city adopted a domestic version of the national security bill, known colloquially as Article 23, which now gives greater oversight to the corrections department in national security cases. It will apply retroactively to cases prior to the approval of the law, according to leader John Lee.
The 2020 national security law criminalized crimes considered secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. Article 23 expands these charges and adds new ones, such as theft of state secrets, sedition, insurrection, and treason. Hong Kong made its first arrests under that law earlier this week.
The Georgetown Center for Asia Law, which tracks cases in Hong Kong courts, said 286 individuals were arrested by the national security police between July 2020 and December 31, 2023. Of these, 156 were charged under the law of national security. or a recently revived law against sedition that dates back to the British colonial era.
The mass trial has already damaged Hong Kong’s reputation as Asia’s “freest” city, but its effects will be much more profound in the long term, warned Kevin Yam, a former Hong Kong lawyer and democracy activist who now lives in Hong Kong. in Australia. The city has seen an exodus of foreign companies and financial institutions since the pandemic – when authorities imposed debilitating health regulations – and the imposition of the security law.
Although some have started to return, the trial should make them reflect on the quality of governance, according to Yam, who is also wanted by the Hong Kong police for national security “crimes”, offering a “reward” of one million of Hong Kong dollars (128,888 dollars). ”To anyone who provides information leading to your arrest.
“International companies should be very concerned that the opposition has been wiped out of the Hong Kong political scene with cases like this, the quality of governance and accountability has just disappeared,” he told Al Jazeera.
Recent missteps include an attempt to change the city’s rubbish collection schedule, to an ill-fated attempt to lure football star Lionel Messi to play in Hong Kong in unsustainable conditions. Earlier this year, city authorities also welcomed an investor who claimed to be related to Dubai’s ruling family, without properly checking his credentials.
As the Hong Kong police devote resources to cracking down on political crimes, common crime is also on the rise. The number of reported crimes in Hong Kong has been rising steadily since 2018, after falling for five consecutive years. Between 2022 and 2023, crime increased by 29%, according to police datawith a sharp increase in online scams and fraud.
Yam said that before the national security law, the opposition would have been able to hold the government responsible for this rise in crime.
“If you look at 2019 and who caused great anger among the population, do you think of people like [Chief Executive] John Lee and [Secretary for Security] Chris Tang. In fact, they were promoted,” he said. “So, in fact, in an environment where the opposition is being destroyed, incompetence is actually being promoted by the central government.”
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
