The group of pro-democracy politicians and activists are accused of subversion for organising an unofficial main.
The nationwide safety trial of dozens of individuals — from former pro-democracy legislators to activists and authorized students — has begun in Hong Kong greater than two years after they have been arrested in pre-dawn police raids throughout the territory.
The defendants are accused of “subversion” for organising an unofficial main to decide on their candidates for the 2020 Legislative Council election that the federal government later postponed blaming the coronavirus pandemic.
There was a heavy police presence, together with officers with canine, exterior the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts constructing.
Some individuals started lining up in a single day for a seat within the public gallery, with the queue snaking across the constructing by the morning.
“There’s definitely big sympathy for the people who find themselves standing trial,” stated Al Jazeera’s Richard Kimber, reporting from Hong Kong. “There’s definitely plenty of frustration that it’s taken this lengthy to get to this stage and that those that’ve been detained haven’t been in a position to communicate out since they have been arrested.”
These charged embrace distinguished activists Leung Kwok-hung, generally known as “Lengthy Hair”, and Gordon Ng Ching-hang, who faces potential life imprisonment as one among 5 individuals accused of being a “main organiser” of the first.
Those that have pleaded responsible embrace internationally-known activists like Joshua Wong, and Claudia Mo, a former journalist turned legislator.
Collectively, the 47 accused account for a lot of what stays of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy management after mass protests calling for political reform in 2019 got here to an inconclusive finish with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the nationwide safety legislation pushed many into exile.
The trial is anticipated to proceed for 90 days.
Sentencing of all of the defendants will happen after it has concluded.
Underneath the safety legislation, which took impact on June 30, 2020, the defendants resist three years in jail for conspiracy to commit subversive actions, between three and 10 years imprisonment for “energetic participation” within the conspiracy, and between 10 years and life imprisonment if they’re deemed “principal offenders”.