A Hong Kong court has sentenced key pro-democracy figures to 10 years in prison for coup d’état, following a controversial national security trial.
Benny Tai and Joshua Wong, prominent figures of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, were among the so-called Hong Kong 47 groups to be sentenced. Tai received 10 years while Wong received more than four years, for their roles in the process of choosing opposition party representatives in local elections.
A total of 47 activists, opposition lawyers and ordinary people organized or participated in the program. Most of them were found guilty of attempting to overthrow the government, two were released.
Their trial marked the largest application of the strict national security law China imposed on Hong Kong shortly after the city’s pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Observers say this significantly weakens the city’s pro-democracy and rule-of-law movements, and allows China to tighten its grip on the city. The US described the trial as “politically motivated”.
The governments in Beijing and Hong Kong argue that the law is necessary to maintain stability and deny that it weakens autonomy. They also said that the conviction is a warning to forces that try to undermine China’s national security.
The case has attracted a lot of interest from Hongkongers, many of whom have lined up in the past few days to get a place in the public gallery.
Other prominent pro-democracy figures sentenced on Tuesday include Gwyneth Ho, a former journalist turned politician, and former MPs Claudia Mo and Leung Kwok-hung. They received sentences ranging from four to seven years in prison.
In 2020, hundreds of thousands of Hongkongers voted in unofficial elections for the Legislative Council. It was organized by pro-democracy activists to increase the opposition’s ability to block the debt of the pro-Beijing government.
These activists said their actions were legal. But the officials accused the activists of trying to “overthrow” the government, and the judges in their decision agreed with the prosecutors’ contention that the plan would create a constitutional problem.
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