HONG KONG – Fourteen pro-democracy activists were convicted Thursday in Hong Kong’s biggest national security case by a court that said their plan to achieve replacement through unofficial primary elections would have undermined the government’s authority and created a constitutional crisis.
After a 2019 protest motion filled the city’s streets with protesters, the government has still silenced dissent in Hong Kong by restricting public selection in elections, cracking down on the media, and enforcing the Beijing-imposed security law for which the activists were convicted.
Among those convicted of conspiracy to engage in subversion are former lawmakers Leung Kwok-hung, Lam Cheuk-ting, Helena Wong and Raymond Chan, and face life in prison if later convicted. The two acquitted defendants were former district councillor Lee Yue-shun. But prosecutors have announced their intention to appeal the acquittals.
These activists were among the 47 democracy defenders prosecuted in 2021 for their participation in the primaries. Prosecutors had accused them of trying to cripple Hong Kong’s government and topple the city’s leader by gaining a legislative majority to indiscriminately veto budgets.
In a summary of the verdict distributed to the media, those election participants said they would use their legislative strength to veto the budgets.
Under the city’s mini-constitution, the executive leader can dissolve the legislature if a budget passes, but will have to resign if the budget is vetoed in the next legislature.
In the full 319-page verdict, the justices tasked across the government with overseeing the case also said that if the plan to veto spending led to the dissolution of the Legislature, it meant that “the implementation of any new government policy would be seriously impaired. “hindered. ” and necessarily close.
“The strength and authority of the government and the executive leader would be weakened,” the court said in the verdict. “In our view . . . would create a constitutional crisis in Hong Kong. “
At the end of the hearing, some of the convicts greeted their families as they left the courtroom.
The court acquitted Lau after finding that he had not mentioned his veto over his election campaign budget, and the court could not conclude that his intention was to overthrow state power.
Lee, the other defendant found not guilty, thanked the public for taking an interest in the case over the past few years. “I feel calm, as always,” he said.
Lee, like Lau, was acquitted after the court found no evidence that he had discussed his veto in an election forum, nor had he personally expressed his position on veto force the government to accede to the demands of the 2019 protests.
While Lee had followed a political platform similar to that of other members of the now-defunct Civic Party, the court took into account the fact that he was late to the party’s first crusade and would not have yet had a choice to adopt the platform. used through others. Therefore, the court said that it may not have been sure that he had intended to overthrow the force of the state.
Both men will be released on bail pending their appeal, he said. A hearing on mitigation measures has been tentatively scheduled for June 25.
Observers said the subversion case illustrated how the security law was being used to stifle political opposition in the wake of mass anti-government protests in 2019. It also showed that Beijing’s promise to preserve the Western-style civil liberties of the former British colony for 50 years upon its return to China in 1997 was worn out, they said.
But the Beijing and Hong Kong governments insisted that the law had helped bring stability to the city and that judicial independence was protected. After the verdicts, Beijing came out in favor of the work of the city’s judicial and police officials, despite the West’s considerations.
The 47 activists charged included jurist Benny Tai, former student leader Joshua Wong and a dozen former lawmakers, Leung and Claudia Mo.
Thirty-one of them, in addition to Tai, Wong, and Mo, pleaded guilty. They are more likely to be sentenced to shorter criminal sentences and will be sentenced at a later date.
Ahead of the start of Thursday’s hearing, four members of the pro-democracy Social Democratic League, including Leung’s wife, Chan Po-ying, were arrested outside the court. First, they had planned to organize a small demonstration. to express their appreciation to the activists. Without identifying them, police said they were arrested on suspicion of disturbing public order in a public place.
Diplomats from the United States, Australia and Britain, as well as dozens of residents, waited outside the courthouse guarded by police to get seats to hear the verdicts. Human rights teams and several foreign governments later criticized the court’s decision.
Social worker Stanley Chang, a friend of one of the 16 defendants who pleaded not guilty, said he arrived at the scene at 4 a. m. because he feared he couldn’t locate a location. Chang said he wanted to be there to display his for the defendants.
The unofficial issue one of June 2020 aimed to shortlist pro-democracy candidates who would then run in official elections. It attracted an oddly high turnout of 610,000 voters, or more than thirteen percent of the city’s registered electorate.
The pro-democracy camp hoped to secure a legislative majority that would allow it to push through the demands of the 2019 protests, adding greater police accountability and democratic elections for the city’s leader.
But the government postponed parliamentary elections that would have followed the primaries, bringing to light the public health dangers related to the coronavirus pandemic. The elections were later revised, expanding the number of pro-Beijing lawmakers in the legislature.