A Hong Kong court approved by the Chinese government convicted 14 out of 16 pro-democracy activists on Thursday for challenging Beijing’s sweeping national-security law four years ago.
The activists were among 47 prosecuted in 2021 for attempting to overthrow Hong Kong’s government by holding an unofficial primary election to nominate opposition candidates for the 2020 legislative election. Thirty-one of the defendants pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit subversion, while the remaining 16 pleaded not guilty and took their chances in a two-day trial.
Fourteen of those defendants were found guilty of subversion, but the other two — lawyer Lawrence Lau and former district councilor Shun Lee — were acquitted. The acquitted pair will remain on bail pending the adjudication of an appeal by prosecutors. Those found guilty included former Hong Kong lawmakers Helena Wong, Raymond Chan, Lam Cheuk-ting, and Leung Kwok-hung. The trial represented the largest case under the 2020 national-security law imposed by China.
The law essentially made all public dissent illegal and weakened the Hong Kong government’s autonomy, strengthening China’s grip over the region.
Beijing and Hong Kong leaders argue the law helped maintain stability following the city’s anti-government protests in 2019 and 2020. But human-rights groups condemn the subversion case, saying China is using the security law to crush its political opposition.
“Democracy is not a crime, regardless of what the Chinese government and its handpicked Hong Kong court may say,” said Maya Wang, Human Rights Watch’s interim China director.
“Beijing promised Hong Kong people universal suffrage. It is Beijing that needs to be held accountable for repeatedly reneging on these promises, and for blatantly erasing the basic human rights guaranteed in Hong Kong laws and functional constitution,” she added.
Established to select candidates for running in the official election, the July 2020 primary drew the participation of 610,000 voters, over 13 percent of the city’s registered electorate. Beijing said the informal vote challenged its national-security law, which criminalizes any activity deemed secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces.
Billionaire newspaper publisher and pro-democracy dissident Jimmy Lai is also awaiting trial for allegedly violating the draconian national-security law. The 76-year-old, who was sentenced to six years in prison in December 2022 on separate charges, is being held in solitary confinement. He pled not guilty to charges of sedition and collusion with foreign governments in January.