45 Pro-Democracy Activists Sentenced to Prison in Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s High Court sentenced 45 pro-democracy activists to prison on Tuesday in the region’s largest-ever national security trial.
Arrests: The defendants, all of whom were arrested in a single day raid in 2021, included some of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy activists, ex-lawmakers, journalists, academics and student leaders.
- Two of them were acquitted earlier this year.
- Most of the others have been in pretrial detention for the past three years.
The trial: Those sentenced on Tuesday were accused of “conspiracy to commit subversion” for holding an unofficial primary election in 2020. Prosecutors claimed they plotted to “paralyze” the government by trying to win a legislative majority that would allow them to block government budgets and force the city’s leader to resign.
Rather than a trial by jury under Hong Kong’s common law system, three judges were chosen to make the final decision.
The sentence: Tried under a China-imposed 2020 National Security Law, the 45 defendants were each sentenced from 4 to 10 years in prison.
- 31 pleaded guilty to receive a reduced sentence.
- 14 were found guilty in May after their trial.
Today’s harsh sentences against dozens of prominent democracy activists reflect just how fast Hong Kong’s civil liberties and judicial independence have nose-dived in the past four years since the Chinese government imposed the draconian National Security Law on the city.
—Maya Wang, associate China director at Human Rights Watch
Hong Kong was once a symbol of democracy and prosperity under British rule, but since its handover to China in 1997, its freedoms have been systematically stripped away. The region is now a good example of the declining influence of Anglo-America and the rise of alternative authoritarian powers.
Learn more: Read “The End of a Free Hong Kong.”
