A Hong Kong court has sentenced key pro-democracy leaders to imprisonment after the single largest and most controversial national security trial in the Chinese territory.
According to BBC, the court sentenced a leading pro-democracy advocate to 10 years in prison and dozens of other activists to between four and seven years in jail on Tuesday, November 19, 2024, in the largest national security case.
A total of 47 people, including activists Benny Tai and Joshua Wong, lawmakers, and ordinary citizens, are facing charges of organizing or participating in a plan to pick opposition candidates for local elections. 45 of the pro-democracy advocates were found guilty of conspiring to overthrow the government, while two, former district councilors Laurence Lau and Lee Yue-shu, were acquitted.
Tai received 10 years, while Wong received more than four years.
Moreover, the trial involving 47 pro-democracy advocates has been marked as the largest use of national security law that China imposed on Hong Kong after the 2019 pro-democracy protests.
Under the National Security Law, 2020 defendants charged as “primary offenders” would face the harsh penalty of life imprisonment, and the lower offenders or “other participants” can be sentenced to 3-5 years in prison.
Chinese and Hong Kong governments believe that the national security law is required to maintain stability and claim that it does not weaken autonomy.
