(30 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hong Kong – 30 May 2024
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Rafael Wober, The Associated Press
"Here at West Kowloon Courts the hearings of today have just ended. What we’ve learned so far in this, Hong Kong’s biggest national security case, is that out of the 16 people who pled not guilty, 14 of them have been found guilty by the courts. Two of them were found not guilty. They’d been allowed bail, but it’s possible the Hong Kong judiciary, the prosecution may try to appeal the not guilty verdicts. Meanwhile, the other 31 people who are involved in this case, we already know months ago, have pled guilty. So even though we found out a lot to date, we’ve still got to wait
for the sentencing, and before sentencing there will be mitigation for all those found guilty, a process where the exact cases can be considered for the length of a sentence. But remember, for this national security law, subversion could mean up to life imprisonment."
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
Fourteen pro-democracy activists were convicted in Hong Kong’s biggest national security case on Thursday by a court that said their plan to effect change through an unofficial primary election would have undermined the government’s authority and created a constitutional crisis.
After a 2019 protest movement that filled the city’s streets with demonstrators, authorities have all but silenced dissent in Hong Kong through reduced public choice in elections, crackdowns on media and the Beijing-imposed security law under which the activists were convicted.
Those found guilty of conspiracy to commit subversion included former lawmakers Leung Kwok-hung, Lam Cheuk-ting, Helena Wong and Raymond Chan, and they could face up to life in prison when sentenced later.
The two defendants acquitted were former district councilors Lee Yue-shun and Lawrence Lau. But the prosecution said it intends to appeal against the acquittals.
The activists were among 47 democracy advocates who were prosecuted in 2021 for their involvement in the primary.
Prosecutors had accused them of attempting to paralyze Hong Kong’s government and topple the city’s leader by securing the legislative majority necessary to indiscriminately veto budgets.
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