The much-anticipated trial of 16 Hong Kong democracy activists charged under a national security law imposed by Beijing began on Monday with security tight for a case that some observers say will be a test of the city's judicial independence.
The defendants are those who pleaded not guilty out of 47 arrested in a dawn raid in January 2021 and charged with conspiracy to commit subversion for participating in an unofficial primary election organized by democracy supporters in 2020.
"There's no crime to answer. It is not a crime to act against a totalitarian regime," defendant and former lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung, known by the nickname "Long Hair," told the court.
Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 after months of at times violent pro-democracy protests. Western governments have criticized the law, which punishes subversion, collusion with foreign forces, and terrorism with up to life in prison, as a tool to crush dissent.
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