Landmark trial of Hong Kong 47 gets under way amid tight security

The group of pro-democracy politicians and activists are accused of subversion for organising an unofficial major.

There was heavy police presence exterior the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts constructing forward of the opening of the trial of the 47 pro-democracy activists [Tyrone Siu/Reuters]

The nationwide safety trial of dozens of individuals — from former pro-democracy legislators to activists and authorized students — has begun in Hong Kong greater than two years after they have been arrested in pre-dawn police raids throughout the territory.

The defendants are accused of “subversion” for organising an unofficial major to decide on their candidates for the 2020 Legislative Council election that the federal government later postponed blaming the coronavirus pandemic.

There was a heavy police presence, together with officers with canines, exterior the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts constructing forward of the proceedings.

Some folks started lining up in a single day for a seat within the public gallery, with the queue snaking across the constructing by the morning.

“There’s actually big sympathy for the people who find themselves standing trial,” mentioned Al Jazeera’s Richard Kimber, reporting from Hong Kong. “There’s actually loads of frustration that it’s taken this lengthy to get to this stage and that those that’ve been detained haven't been capable of communicate out since they have been arrested.”

These charged embrace outstanding activists Leung Kwok-hung, often called “Lengthy Hair”, and Gordon Ng Ching-hang, who faces potential life imprisonment as one in every of 5 folks accused of being a “main organiser” of the first.

“There’s no crime to reply. It's not a criminal offense to behave towards a totalitarian regime,” defendant and former legislator Leung advised the courtroom.

Decide Andrew Chan responded that the listening to was a “solemn event” and requested for respect from the defendants and members of the general public.

Those that have pleaded responsible embrace internationally-known activists like Joshua Wong, Claudia Mo, a former journalist turned legislator, and legislation knowledgeable and former tutorial Benny Tai.

Collectively, the 47 accused account for a lot of what stays of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy management after mass protests calling for political reform in 2019 got here to an inconclusive finish with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the nationwide safety legislation pushed many into exile.

Folks queueing to vote within the major the pro-democracy motion organised for the 2020 Legislative Council elections that have been later postponed. Prosecutors argue the unofficial ballot was a “vicious plot” [File: 
May James/AFP]

Prosecutors have described the first — held so the democrats might put ahead their strongest candidates for the Hong Kong Legislative Council(Legco) election — as a “vicious plot” to subvert the federal government and wreak “mutual destruction” on it by taking management of the town’s legislature.

“Operating for the Legco election is what sort of unlawful means, what sort of violent risk?” Chan Po-ying, chairwoman of the League of Social Democrats and Leung’s spouse, mentioned exterior the courtroom.

The trial is predicted to proceed for 90 days.

Sentencing of all of the defendants will happen after it has concluded.

Beneath the safety legislation, which took impact on June 30, 2020, the defendants withstand three years in jail for conspiracy to commit subversive actions, between three and 10 years imprisonment for “energetic participation” within the conspiracy, and between 10 years and life imprisonment if they're deemed “principal offenders”.

Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997 beneath a “one nation, two techniques” components meant to ensure its freedoms and an impartial authorized system for not less than 50 years.

Beijing imposed the broadly-worded safety legislation on the town after months of protests that started as mass marches towards plans to permit extradition to the mainland, and developed right into a marketing campaign for democracy that typically turned violent.

In addition to subversion, the legislation punishes actions deemed “secession”, “collusion with international forces”, and “terrorism” with as much as life in jail.

A 12 months after it was imposed, rights group Amnesty Worldwide mentioned it had “decimated” freedoms in Hong Kong and put the territory on the highway to turning into a police state.