The hearing lasted six minutes, on Tuesday, November 19, in the main court of justice in West Kowloon, in Hong Kong, to pronounce the sentences in the process that destroyed the democratic movement of the city taken by China. Forty-five former party leaders, activists or citizens who had dared to participate in a primary in the summer of 2020, just after Beijing imposed a draconian national security law, were crowded into the glass box. They were all sentenced to prison.
The president of the court, surrounded by two other judges also appointed by a Government controlled by Beijing, indicated that he would not read the 82 pages of the ruling. The coiled wig and red and black dress are what remains of the rule of law that was once the pride of Hong Kong. Quickly, the magistrate simply listed the numbers of the accused – without their names – preceded by D of “accused” : “D1 = 120 months, D2 = 81 months, D3 = 84 months”etc.
The number of convicts and the public interest in this burial of political freedoms were such that several adjoining rooms had to be opened to allow entry to lawyers, family members, sympathizers, committed citizens and the press. The democratic parties had organized these primaries in July 2020, in order to maximize their chances of winning seats – which is otherwise normal politics – in future legislative elections, in an electoral system largely favorable to pro-Chinese candidates. Some wanted, in the event of victory, to block the approval of the budgets, which could have ended up forcing the local executive to resign.
“Measure what opening remains”
The prosecution and the judges saw in this the desire to win the vote to bring “a constitutional crisis”thus preserving a “conspiracy to subvert”. The former law professor at the prestigious University of Hong Kong, who was at the origin of these primaries, Benny Tai, has been sentenced to ten years in prison. Fifteen would have been taken from him if he had not pleaded guilty, the ruling states.
Early repentance during the trial, which lasted more than three and a half years since a mass raid in January 2021, appears to have largely guided the sentencing, affecting those who refused to plead guilty to a crime that was then simply life. ordinary politics. Behind Benny Tai, presented as the“main architect” For the conspiracy, twenty people were sentenced to sentences ranging from five to eight years in prison, and another twenty-four to four to five years.
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