up to 10 years in prison for 45 pro-democracy activists following largest national security trial

Lawyer Benny Tai received a 10-year prison sentence, the longest handed down to date under the 2020 law, adopted after massive pro-democracy protests in the Chinese-administered region.

An extraordinary trial. On Tuesday, November 19, Hong Kong justice sentenced 45 pro-democracy activists found guilty of “subversion” to prison terms of up to 10 years, following Hong Kong's largest national security trial. The United States, Australia and human rights NGOs immediately reacted by condemning these sentences as proof of the erosion of political freedoms in Hong Kong since a firm takeover by Beijing.

Lawyer Benny Tai received a 10-year prison sentence, the longest handed down to date under the 2020 law, enacted a year after massive and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in the special administrative region of China. All the activists were found guilty of organizing an unofficial primary intended to select opposition candidates for the legislative elections, in the hope of winning a majority in the local assembly, vetoing budgets and potentially forcing to the resignation of the then pro-Beijing leader of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam.

Despite warnings from authorities, 610,000 people voted in the primary in July 2020, almost a seventh of Hong Kong's voting age population. The authorities eventually abandoned the local assembly election and Beijing established a new political system that strictly controls Hong Kong's elected officials.

Forty-seven people were initially arrested and then charged in 2021 in this case. Of the latter, 31 had pleaded guilty, 16 were tried in a 118-day trial last year, after which 14 were convicted and two acquitted in May. The judges considered that the group had risked causing a “constitutional crisis”and 45 were found guilty of “conspiracy to subvert state power”.

Australia declared itself “seriously concerned” by these sentences, and in particular that of Gordon Ng, who has Hong Kong and Australian nationalities. Western countries and Western NGOs have criticized the trial, seeing it as proof of the growing authoritarianism of the Hong Kong authorities. The United States has “strongly condemned” these prison sentences handed down against activists who had led “normal political activity protected by the Basic Law of Hong Kong”according to a spokesperson for the consulate.