Fourteen people have been found guilty in Hong Kong’s largest national security trial, the prosecution of the so-called “Hong Kong 47” pro-democracy campaigners.
Sixteen of the cohort had pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit subversion for organising pre-election primaries, and were among those detained in mass dawn raids by national security police in January 2021. Most have been in jail awaiting trial ever since.
Among the guilty are former lawmakers and activists including Helena Wong, veteran campaigner Leung “Long Hair” Kwok-hung, journalist Gwyneth Ho, and dual Hong Kong-Australian national Gordon Ng.
The charges of “conspiracy to subvert state power” were laid against them under the national security law which had been introduced seven months earlier.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Sixteen of the cohort had pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit subversion for organising pre-election primaries, and were among those detained in mass dawn raids by national security police in January 2021.
Among the guilty are former lawmakers and activists including Helena Wong, veteran campaigner Leung “Long Hair” Kwok-hung, journalist Gwyneth Ho, and dual Hong Kong-Australian national Gordon Ng.
Thursday’s judgement said the cohort’s plan to gain a majority in the LegCo in order to block budgetary bills and force the resignation of the chief executive if she didn’t agree to the pro-democracy movement’s demands was a violation of Hong Kong’s mini constitution, the Basic Law.
Most of the 47 had been denied bail, including Jimmy Sham, who was labelled a “determined and resolute young man” for continuing to insist on the five demands of the pro-democracy protesters, and 65-year-old former legislator Claudia Mo, whose WhatsApp messages with western journalists in the preceding years had been cited as evidence she was a national security risk.
Prosecutors had argued Tai’s plan for the primaries to gain a majority in parliament and eventually force a dissolution and the resignation of the chief executive amounted to an abuse of powers and a subversive conspiracy.
Days prior, Hong Kong minister Erick Tsang warned in an interview that the primaries could violate the national security law (NSL), which had been active for a bit more than a week.
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