The verdict comes several years after a pro-democracy movement sparked major protests in the city against a Beijing-imposed national security law. Only two of the accused were acquitted.
Hong Kong’s High Court on Thursday found 14 activists guilty of “subversion” in the city’s biggest trial against pro-democracy campaigners since China imposed a national security law (NSL).
Those who were found guilty included former lawmakers Leung Kwok-hung, Lam Cheuk-ting, Helena Wong and Raymond Chan. Two former district councilors Lee Yue-shun and Lawrence Lau were acquitted.
Lee thanked the public for taking an interest in the case.
“I feel calm, as I have always been,” he said after the verdict.
In 2021, 47 protesters and activists, known as the Hong Kong 47, were charged under the national security law with “conspiracy to commit subversion.”
While 16 of them maintained their innocence throughout the trial, the remaining 31 pleaded guilty, hoping for more lenient sentences.
Those found guilty could face from three years to life in jail. The sentencing is expected later this year.
What did the judge say?
Judges Andrew Chan, Alex Lee and Johnny Chan released a statement summarizing their verdict that said the 14 defendants had planned to undermine “the power and authority of both the government and chief executive. In our view… that would create a constitutional crisis for Hong Kong.”
It was not immediately clear if they would appeal as the court adjourned until the afternoon session.
Most of the defendants have been in jail since they were first brought to court in March 2021.
The trial was held without a jury and the judges were chosen from a pool handpicked by Hong Kong’s leader John Lee.
The Reuters news agency spoke to the wife of Leung, who at 68 is the oldest defendant.
“Although he might not be well emotionally and still not yet adapted to prison life… he always told me that he’s innocent,” she said.
Supporters of the defendants queued overnight to be in the courtroom but attempts at protest were quickly shut down by police.
International condemnation
Australia voiced “strong objections” and deep concern over the conviction, vowing to raise the fate of a condemned Australian at the “highest levels”.
“We are deeply concerned by the verdicts handed down today,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said, “including a guilty verdict for Australian citizen Mr Gordon Ng.”
Diplomatic officers from the consulates of Britain, France, the European Union and Italy were present in court on Thursday. The British Consulate-General told AFP the UK was concerned “over the erosion of meaningful political opposition in Hong Kong.”
They began attending court proceedings following accusations that the trial was politically motivated and joined calls for the immediate release of the accused.
China responded by telling international critics to “stop interfering.”
“We advise individual countries and politicians to face reality squarely, uphold an objective and impartial stance… and stop interfering in Hong Kong’s affairs and China’s internal affairs immediately,” the spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry office in Hong Kong said.
China’s crackdown on the Hong Kong democracy movement
Mass pro-democracy protests erupted in Hong Kong in 2019 over the NSL that was being planned at the time by Beijing.
Democrats argued the NSL would infringe on freedoms guaranteed when Hong Kong was handed back to China by the British in 1997.
The charges centered around an unofficial pre-selection ballot in July 2020 that prosecutors called a “vicious plot” to paralyze the government.
The democrats maintain it was an unofficial attempt to select the strongest candidates for a citywide election in a bid to win a historic majority in Hong Kong’s legislature.
