Fourteen Hong Kong Democrats Found Guilty in Landmark Subversion Trial

Fourteen Hong Kong pro-democracy activists were found guilty in a landmark subversion trial on Thursday, with two others acquitted. The verdicts come more than three years after police arrested 47 democrats in dawn raids at homes across the city, charging them with conspiracy to commit subversion under a national security law imposed by China.

The sentencing for those found guilty will come at a later date, with prison terms ranging from three years to life for this offense. Thirty-one defendants pleaded guilty, and four of them have become prosecution witnesses.

Critics of the trial, including the U.S. and some other countries, have called it politically motivated and have urged for the immediate release of the accused. Diplomats from several countries, including the U.S. and the European Union, attended the hearing.

The defendants were accused of a “vicious plot” to paralyze the government in Hong Kong and force the city’s leader to resign through a pre-selection ballot in a July 2020 citywide election. The democrats maintain it was an unofficial attempt to select the strongest candidates to win a historic majority in Hong Kong’s legislature.

The judges summarized their verdict by stating that if the defendants had succeeded, it would have created “a constitutional crisis for Hong Kong” and led to serious interference in the government’s duties and functions.

The mass pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019 against Beijing’s plans for legislation that democrats argued infringed on freedoms guaranteed when Hong Kong returned to China’s control in 1997. Beijing imposed the sweeping national security law in 2020, leading to a spate of arrests of democratic campaigners and the closures of liberal media outlets and NGOs.

Amnesty International’s China director, Sarah Brooks, called the mass conviction a “ruthless illustration” of how Hong Kong’s national security law is used to silence dissent, representing a near-total purge of the political opposition.

Beijing has defended the national security laws, stating they have brought stability to Hong Kong and that human rights are respected. Most of the accused have been detained since February 28, 2021, and have gone through marathon bail hearings.

The trial has drawn international attention and criticism, with calls for the accused to be released and concerns raised about the erosion of democracy and freedoms in Hong Kong.