The hearing lasted six minutes, Tuesday, November 19, in the main court of justice in West Kowloon, in Hong Kong, for the pronouncement of sentences in the trial which destroyed the democratic movement of the city taken over 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, 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 judgment. The roller wig and the red and black dress are what remains of the rule of law which was the pride of Hong Kong before. Quickly, the magistrate simply listed the numbers of the defendants – without their names – preceded by D for « defendant » : “D1 = 120 months, D2 = 81 months, D3 = 84 months”and so on.
The number of convicts and the public interest in this burial of political freedoms were such that several annex rooms had to be opened to allow lawyers, families, supporters, committed citizens and the press to enter. The democratic parties had organized this primary in July 2020, in order to maximize their chances of obtaining 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 adoption 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 it a desire to win the vote to bring “a constitutional crisis”thus retaining a “plot in view of subversion”. The former law professor at the prestigious University of Hong Kong, who was at the origin of this primary, Benny Tai, is sentenced to ten years of imprisonment. He would have taken fifteen if he had not pleaded guilty, the judgment states.
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Early repentance during the proceedings, which lasted more than three and a half years since a massive dragnet in January 2021, appears to have largely guided sentencing, affecting those who refused to plead guilty to a crime that then was just ordinary political life. Behind Benny Tai, presented as the“principal architect” of the conspiracy, twenty people were sentenced to sentences ranging from five to eight years in prison, and twenty-four others to four to five years.
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