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| Sentences were handed down in the largest NSL case to date |
It is a dark day in Hong Kong, as pro-democracy activists, former politicians and academics were convicted of subversion for their roles in the unofficial primary they held in July 2020.
Sentences range from just over four years to 10 years for legal academic Benny Tai Yiu-ting, who was deemed the mastermind of the primary in a bid to force then Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to resign. Beijing saw it as a bid to take down the government.
The primary never happened as the elections were postponed claiming the pandemic as the reason, and 47 people were arrested in January 2021. In the end 45 of them were convicted, totally wiping out key figures in the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.
But to the three appointed judges, it did not matter the primary was successful or not: "It was submitted by some of the defendants that the ultimate consequences of serious interfering in, disrupting or undermining the performance of duties and functions of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government depended very much on the Scheme being carried to the fruition and that would have never materialised. Hence in the present case they said even without disqualification or calling off the LegCo election, the scheme was bound to fail because the participants simply failed to secure sufficient seats," they wrote in the judgment.
"Whether the Scheme would ultimately succeed, it was not for this Court to speculate. What we were sure was that all the participants had put in every endeavour to make it a success."
In general, those who pleaded guilty were given lesser sentences of over four years, while those who claimed they were not guilty were handed heavier ones. For example, Joshua Wong Chi-fung got four years and eight months by pleading guilty, whereas Gwyneth Ho Kwai-lam got seven years pleading not guilty.
But Tai entered a plea of guilty and got the heaviest sentence of 10 years, as the judges believed he instigated "the Scheme".
As they have all been in custody without bail for over three years, some of them will be released on a year or so.
Many members of the public came to see the people in the dock. Former politician Claudia Mo Man-ching is 67 years old and was sentenced to four years and two months. Her husband, Philip Bowring is in ill health, which the court acknowledged, but would not reduce her sentence. Hopefully he can hang on until she is finally released.
There are also concerns about the health of "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung who is 68 years old and was sentenced to six years and nine months. The court did not describe him as having "a positive good character" as he has had a track record of protesting against the government over the years, hence the longer sentence.
The trial was meant to show those who dare to criticise the government can face a similar fate.
"If you are being critical of the authorities both in Hong Kong and in China, then it's open season," said Steve Tsang, a Hong Kong-born political scientist and director of the SOAS China Institute in London.
"I think that this case will be seen by many in the international community as the final nail in the coffin for the rule of law in Hong Kong," said Thomas Kellogg, the executive director of the Georgetown Center for Asian Law.
Meanwhile Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said the sentences showed those who committed national security crimes must be severely punished.
When Joshua Wong was leaving the courtroom, he shouted, "I love Hong Kong, bye bye!"
It's not over yet -- tomorrow Jimmy Lai Chee-ying's trial continues...
