A Hong Kong court docket on Tuesday started mitigation hearings for outstanding pro-democracy activists who had been convicted underneath a nationwide safety legislation and now resist life in jail.
The activists had been amongst 47 democracy advocates who had been charged with conspiracy to commit subversion in 2021 for his or her involvement in an unofficial main, within the largest case introduced underneath the Beijing-imposed nationwide safety legislation.
Professional-democracy lawmakers Au Nok-hin, in yellow helmet, and, Claudia Mo, proper, argue a pro-Beijing lawmaker throughout an illustration of an anti-riot automobile outfitted with water cannon by Hong Kong police on the Police Tactical Unit Headquarters in Hong Kong, Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. A Hong Kong court docket started mitigation hearings for outstanding pro-democracy activists who had been convicted underneath a nationwide safety legislation and now resist life in jail. Consultant picture (Photograph: AP)
They had been accused of trying to paralyze Hong Kong’s authorities and topple town’s chief by securing a legislative majority and utilizing it to dam metropolis budgets.
Forty-five of the defendants both pled responsible or had been convicted by a three-judge panel whose membership was accredited by the federal government. The judges mentioned their plans to impact change via the election would have undermined the federal government’s authority and created a constitutional disaster, in a verdict that critics mentioned raised doubt about judicial independence.
The primary batch of defendants to plead for lenient sentences incorporates authorized scholar Benny Tai and activists Au Nok-hin, Andrew Chiu, Ben Chung and Gordon Ng. Prosecutors described the 5 because the organizers of the first. The mitigation hearings are anticipated to proceed till early August.
Barrister Stewart Wong, representing Tai, informed the judges that his shopper must be jailed for 2 years. Wong argued Tai’s conviction was not a nationwide safety offense, however a conspiracy cost as a substitute. He added that the judges ought to solely think about what Tai did after the 2020 safety legislation took impact.
However prosecutor Jonathan Man mentioned that the first’s organizers shouldn’t be let off flippantly.
“It is unacceptable that organizers of against the law should not principal offenders,” he mentioned. “Any submission like that defies widespread sense.” Hours earlier than the listening to started, dozens of individuals lined up outdoors the court docket constructing amid a heavy police presence. A few of them, together with retiree William Wong, arrived at about 6 p.m. on Monday regardless of summer season warmth.
Wong mentioned he voted within the main and shared the defendants’ hopes for democracy.
“It is a regular election. Why do individuals should be jailed for this? I can not settle for this,” he mentioned.
Tai, a former legislation professor on the College of Hong Kong, nodded and smiled at individuals sitting within the public gallery after he walked into the courtroom. Sporting a white T-shirt and a black blazer, he gave the impression to be relaxed through the listening to.
Tai is finest often called a co-founder of town’s 2014 Occupy Motion, throughout which demonstrators occupied streets for 79 days and introduced site visitors in some areas to a standstill, demanding direct elections for town’s chief.
The judges wrote of their verdict final month that Tai had laid out plans to dam metropolis budgets by buying a legislative majority, calling it a “constitutional weapon of mass destruction.” They mentioned Tai’s intention was to make use of the plans to “undermine, destroy or overthrow the prevailing political system and construction” of Hong Kong.
Former legislation professor Benny Tai, a key determine in Hong Kong’s 2014 Occupy Central protests and in addition was one of many principal organizers of the primaries, who was arrested underneath Hong Kong’s nationwide safety legislation, offers the thumbs up as he’s escorted by Correctional Companies officers in Hong Kong March 2, 2021. A Hong Kong court docket started mitigation hearings for outstanding pro-democracy activists who had been convicted underneath a nationwide safety legislation and now resist life in jail, Consultant picture (AP Photograph, File)
Tai, Au, Chiu and Chung had been amongst 31 activists who pled responsible. They’ve a greater probability of receiving shorter jail phrases.
The legislation authorizes a variety of sentences relying on the seriousness of the offense and the defendant’s function in it, going from underneath three years for the least critical to 10 years to life for individuals convicted of “grave” offenses.
The convictions have drawn concern from overseas governments. America has mentioned it plans to impose new visa restrictions on each Chinese language and Hong Kong officers chargeable for implementing the safety legislation.
A British choose additionally mentioned the decision “is symptomatic of a rising malaise within the Hong Kong judiciary,” days after resigning from a submit on town’s high court docket.
However the Hong Kong authorities insisted town’s courts should not underneath any political stress from mainland or Hong Kong authorities.
Each governments additionally keep that the safety legislation launched in 2020 restored stability following big anti-government protests in 2019.