2 days Ago By Kelly Ho
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Pro-democracy activist Benny Tai has been jailed for 10 years over organising an unofficial primary election in 2020, as Hong Kong’s High Court delivered sentences in the city’s largest national security case to date. Tai was among 45 pro-democracy figures sentenced on Tuesday after being convicted of conspiring to commit subversion, an offence under the Beijing-imposed national security law. Au Nok-hin, Andrew Chiu and Ben Chung, who testified for the prosecution against their fellow democrats during trial, were sentenced to six years and nine months, seven years, and six years and one month, respectively.
The detained democrats began being led into the dock soon after the hearing began at 10 am. The first batch were the eight female detainees, including former lawmakers Claudia Mo and Helena Wong, and journalist turned activist Gwyneth Ho. Some wore brightly coloured tops, such as Ho, who donned a pink shirt, and Tiffany Yuen, who was wearing a Liverpool Football Club jersey; the team’s anthem is You’ll Never Walk Alone .
Mo’s husband stood up to wave at her from the public gallery, but was quickly reprimanded by a Judiciary employee, who said: “gentleman sit down please.” At 10.08 am, the male detainees were also led into the dock.
Some waved to the public gallery, while others made the shape of a heart with their hands and gestured to their family members. The last defendants to be seated were Au, Chiu and Chung. Mike Lam – the only convicted democrat who remained on bail – also testified against his fellow democrats during the trial.
The session was over before 10.30 am. As the defendants were escorted away by the corrections officers, Joshua Wong yelled: “I love Hong Kong, bye bye!” As the defendants were escorted away by the corrections officers, Joshua Wong yelled: “I love Hong Kong, bye bye!” At the centre of the case was the July 2020 election primary, through which the opposition camp hoped to identify candidates to help it win majority control of the legislature in an upcoming election.
A panel of three designated national security judges – Andrew Chan, Alex Lee and Johnny Chan – ruled that the democrats had intended to abuse their powers to indiscriminately veto the government budget and force the chief executive to resign if they had indeed won a majority. In a 319-page judgement in May, the judges wrote that Tai’s goal was to “undermine, destroy or overthrow the existing political system and structure of [Hong Kong] established under the Basic Law and the policy of One Country, Two Systems.” This would have plunged the city into a “constitutional crisis,” they ruled.
Under the national security law, the 45 democrats faced three tiers of penalty depending on their level of participation in the offence. The maximum sentence for subversion is life behind bars, while the minimum sentence is “fixed term imprisonment of not more than three years, short-term detention or restriction.” Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest.
It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. The move gave police sweeping new powers and led to hundreds of arrests amid new legal precedents , while dozens of civil society groups disappeared . The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners , the UN and NGOs .
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