Hong Kong’s high court on Tuesday convicted 45 pro-democracy activists in a landmark national security trial that has crushed the city’s pro-democracy movement and sparked international condemnation. The maximum penalty is ten years in prison. TASR reports according to the Reuters and AP agencies.
Dozens of pro-democracy activists were arrested in 2021 and charged with conspiracy to commit subversion under the Beijing-imposed national security law and faced up to life in prison.
University law professor Benny Tai was named the “organizer” of these pro-democracy activists and was sentenced to ten years in prison. The others escaped with sentences ranging from four to ten years in prison. Authorities believe Tai is the mastermind of the unofficial “primary election” that sparked the high-profile case. In his opening statement in February, prosecutors accused him of “creating a system” to unite Hong Kong’s disparate pro-democracy groups into a single coalition that could win a majority in primary elections for the first time.
The US criticized the trial as politically motivated and said the detainees should be released as they were “peacefully participating in political activities” that were legal.
Mass anti-government protests in Hong Kong began in June 2019 and lasted roughly seven months. At the time, pro-democracy protesters first demanded that the government withdraw a controversial bill that would have allowed people suspected of committing crimes to be extradited to mainland China. Later, their protests were mainly directed against China’s interference in Hong Kong’s special autonomous status.
In 2020, in response to protests, Beijing introduced a strict law on the so-called national security. The Chinese and Hong Kong governments say the law was needed to restore order after mass protests and to deal with protesters in accordance with local laws. At the same time, more than 10,000 people were detained in connection with the protests and almost 2,900 persons were prosecuted.
Source: spravy.pravda.sk
