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This week, a long-expected nationwide safety trial of 47 Hong Kong pro-democracy figures started. The group was arrested en masse in January 2021 and charged with subversion a month later for holding an unofficial major in July 2020 (shortly after a draconian Nationwide Safety Regulation was pressured via the town’s legislature.) Solely 13 of these arrested have been granted bail, whereas the opposite 34 have languished in pre-trial detention for over two years. On the West Kowloon Regulation Courts on Monday, 16 defendants have been current to plead not responsible. All of them face sentences of as much as life imprisonment.
The most important Nationwide Safety Regulation case in Hong Kong has begun. Listed here are some details in a 🧵:
1. Round two third of the defendants have been detained for nearly two years. They have been denied bail on the premise that “they might conduct actions that endanger nationwide safety.” pic.twitter.com/2l4FcXQKoC— Nathan Regulation 羅冠聰 (@nathanlawkc) February 7, 2023
An estimated 600,000 voters participated within the unofficial major in July 2020. Shortly thereafter, the first was declared unlawful and the Legislative Council elections, initially scheduled for September, have been postponed till after the legislature altered the electoral guidelines to make sure that solely “patriots” may run for workplace. The rescheduled vote drew the lowest turnout in Hong Kong’s historical past.
Many of the defendants are anticipated to obtain jail sentences. Ok.Ok. Rebecca Lai, David Pierson, and Tiffany Might from The New York Occasions offered an interactive checklist of all 47 defendants:
Elected lawmakers
Claudia Mo, 66
Leung Kwok-hung, 66
Helena Wong, 63
Kwok Ka-ki, 61
Wu Chi-wai, 60
Raymond Chan, 50
Andrew Wan, 53
Jeremy Tam, 47
Eddie Chu, 45
Lam Cheuk-ting, 45
Alvin Yeung, 41
Au Nok-hin, 35
Elected district officers
Gary Fan, 56
Andy Chui, 55
Lawrence Lau, 55
Ricky Or, 51
Andrew Chiu, 37
Roy Tam, 42
Sze Tak-loy, 40
Clarisse Yeung, 36
Ben Chung, 34
Jimmy Sham, 35
Kalvin Ho, 34
Cheng Tat-hung, 34
Henry Wong, 32
Kinda Li, 31
Sam Cheung, 29
Tiffany Yuen, 29
Lester Shum, 29
Lee Yue-shun, 29
Michael Pang, 28
Ng Kin-wai, 27
Fergus Leung, 25
Outstanding activists
Carol Ng, 52
Winnie Yu, 35
Tam Tak-chi, 51
Gordon Ng, 44
Hendick Lui, 40
Ventus Lau, 29
Gwyneth Ho, 32
Mike Lam, 34
Frankie Fung, 27
Owen Chow, 26
Prince Wong, 25
Lau Chak-fung, 26
Benny Tai, 58
Joshua Wong, 26 [Source]
Over 200 folks, lots of them kin or associates of the defendants, lined up outdoors the courthouse on Monday to attend the opening session. A small group of protesters displayed banners that learn “Crackdown is shameless” and “Instantly launch all political prisoners.” Nonetheless, quite a few folks might have queued solely to occupy seats in order that different members of the general public couldn’t enter. A bunch of greater than ten who arrived at 6:00 a.m. admitted that they had no clue what the trial was about. Journalists from the Hong Kong Free Press reported {that a} group of girls left the courthouse instantly after acquiring tickets, whereas one other girl approached the journalists to ask the place she may choose up fee for queuing and attending the morning session on the court docket.
#NSL47: Over 200 queuing outdoors the the West Kowloon Court docket on day 2 of the nationwide safety trial in opposition to the 16 democrats who pleaded not responsible out of 47 charged with conspiracy to commit subversion for taking part in an unofficial major election in 2020. pic.twitter.com/bBmBWupYGY
— Jessie Pang (@JessiePang0125) February 7, 2023
10/ Chan Po-ying, the chairperson of the group, is heard saying “hope reporters are all filming this” as officers encompass and shove her. pic.twitter.com/oMCv65vBvX
— Hong Kong Free Press HKFP (@hkfp) February 6, 2023
Man stated he obtained HK$1500 for queuing, taking the ticket for the seat and leaving the court docket earlier than court docket begins – blocking others from utilizing the seat. He additionally stated he introduced associates to queue to get HK$1000 every https://t.co/c1N8offEEH
— Kris Cheng (@krislc) February 7, 2023
The trial is predicted to final three months and will probably be heard not by a jury, which has been a typical function of the town’s common-law authorized system for over 150 years, however by three hand-picked nationwide safety judges. In one other break with precedent, the recently-reformed authorized help system has pressured 5 defendants to forgo their attorneys of alternative and to as an alternative use assigned attorneys or pay for authorized illustration out of their very own pocket. 4 Hong Kong activists are additionally set to testify for the prosecution. Kelly Ho from Hong Kong Free Press described the prosecution’s opening arguments in the course of the first two days:
A voting marketing campaign advocated by a Hong Kong activist-scholar fashioned the “spine” of an unofficial legislative major election, prosecutors argued in the course of the second day of a high-profile trial involving 47 outstanding democrats.
[…] The defendants stand accused of in search of to abuse their powers as lawmakers, if elected, to indiscriminately veto funds payments, pressure the chief govt to resign, and drive the federal government right into a shutdown.
[…] The prosecution on Tuesday continued to construct their case, pointing to a “grand technique of rebel” proposed by former legislation professor Benny Tai. The scholar who taught on the College of Hong Kong admitted to the cost earlier. [Source]
So, who’re the core police informants within the #HongKong pro-democracy 47 case? This has been speaking on boards and social media for nearly a day.
I attended 1 of the conferences hosted by Benny Tai, and I felt unsafe attending additional. I used to be proper
Let me break the silence. A 🧵
— Michael Mo (@michaelmohk) February 7, 2023
Human rights teams challenged the unjust nature of the prosecution. “In a trial that lays naked the intrinsically abusive nature of the nationwide safety legislation, among the defendants withstand life in jail merely for collaborating in political occasion ‘primaries,’” stated Amnesty Worldwide’s Deputy Regional Director Hana Younger, including, “They’re pressured to make the not possible choice between pleading responsible to a non-existent crime for a possible discount in sentence, or combating a shedding battle underneath the unjust nationwide safety legislation.” One of many defendants who pleaded not responsible, former lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung, echoed that time: “I’ve no crime to reply for […] Common suffrage is just not a criminal offense. It isn’t a criminal offense to oppose totalitarianism.”
Chan Ho-him from The Monetary Occasions explored the political undercurrents to the prosecution:
Thomas Kellogg, govt director of Georgetown College’s Middle for Asian Regulation, described the trial as having “the entire hallmarks of being a politically motivated prosecution of the town’s mainstream political opposition”.
“This case is important for what it says about human rights in Hong Kong,” he stated. “The truth that a number of dozen high opposition politicians might be quickly headed to jail . . . speaks all too clearly concerning the harm that has been completed to Hong Kong’s once-vibrant civic life.” [Source]
Helen Davidson and Verna Yu from The Guardian described how the trial lays naked Beijing’s willpower to remove any significant, organized opposition in Hong Kong:
Prof Chung Kim-wah, a social scientist previously with the Hong Kong Polytechnic College, says that by elevating the pro-democracy politicians’ supposed crimes to the severity of “conspiracy to subvert state energy”, Beijing is sending a message that opposition to the Hong Kong and Chinese language governments deserves “the harshest punishment”.
“It goals to intimidate the pro-democracy camp so that they daren’t keep lively as something they do may represent critical crime,” he says. “That is how Beijing’s political crackdown is reforming Hong Kong. And they’ll pull out all of the stops to make sure there gained’t be any voices of dissent.”
Eric Lai, a fellow on the Georgetown college centre for Asian legislation, says: “This trial is in impact not only for the 47 opposition leaders but in addition … a trial of the pro-democracy motion in Hong Kong, the place nearly all of the inhabitants has supported their agenda over the past decade.” [Source]
Kathleen Magramo at CNN shared commentary from one other knowledgeable who described the stark long-term implications of the trial:
John Burns, emeritus professor on the College of Hong Kong, stated the trial of the democrats is a “take a look at of will” of Beijing’s capability to utterly wipe out organized opposition in Hong Kong.
Burns stated arresting the democrats and urgent expenses in opposition to them was meant to each intimidate and remove the opposition, both by chasing them out of Hong Kong into exile or by jailing them.
“It’s a strategy of eradicating them. By shutting down political events, shutting down commerce unions, they’re shutting down the premise of the assist for organized opposition,” Burns stated. [Source]
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