Hong Kong’s High Court on Tuesday jailed 45 pro-democracy activists for up to 10 years following a national security trial that has damaged the city’s once feisty democracy movement and drawn criticism from the U.S. and other countries.
A total of 47 pro-democracy activists were arrested and charged in 2021 with conspiracy to commit subversion under a Beijing-imposed national security law which carried sentences of up to life in prison. Benny Tai, a former legal scholar identified in the judgment as a mastermind of the activists’ plans, was sentenced to 10 years in jail, the longest sentence so far under the 2020 national security law.
The charges related to the organizing of an unofficial “primary election” in 2020 to select candidates for a legislative election. Prosecutors accused the activists of plotting to paralyze the government by engaging in potentially disruptive acts had they been elected.
Some Western governments have criticized the trial, with the U.S. describing it as “politically motivated,” and saying the democrats should be released as they had been legally and peacefully participating in political activities.
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