The biggest trial in a national security case in Hong Kong, in which 47 pro-democracy activists are accused of subversion, ended on Monday, with the verdict expected in “three to four months.”
• Also read: Hong Kong: The largest trial against pro-democracy activists is entering its final phase
The defendants, who include democratically elected lawmakers and academics, represent a cross-section of the opposition in this former British colony, which has been systematically cracked down since China imposed a tough national security law in 2020 to suppress dissent.
This law was passed after Hong Kong was the scene of massive and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests. Its critics see this law as a means of suppressing the freedoms the territory enjoyed under an agreement between the United Kingdom and China before its return to Beijing in 1997.
The case, which has dragged on since authorities made their allegations more than a thousand days ago, is being closely scrutinized and seen by observers as an indicator of the local political atmosphere.
The 47 defendants are accused of “conspiracy to subvert state power” for organizing and supporting unofficial primaries in which they participated in July 2020 to select pro-democracy candidates for the general elections.
Prosecutors claimed she intended to gain a majority in parliament by electing the winners of those primaries and then force the government to respond to protesters’ demands by threatening to indiscriminately veto the vote.
The final debates focused in particular on whether the use of such a budget veto was a prerogative in the Basic Law – Hong Kong’s mini-constitution – or an “unlawful means” of contributing to what authorities described as a subversive conspiracy.
“We are talking about someone who does something that violates essential principles” of the Basic Law, senior prosecutor Jonathan Man said in court.
The prosecution argued that the means used did not necessarily have to be violent to be considered “illegal”, while defense lawyers argued that they only had to involve “physical coercion” or “criminal acts” to be classified as such .
Defense attorney Kevin Chan said the prosecution had no text to support its definition of “illegal.”
Most members of this group have been imprisoned for almost three years since their indictment in early 2021, and 31 of them have pleaded guilty.
The trial, which lasted a total of 118 days, was held without a jury – a major break with a 178-year-old tradition in Hong Kong – to prevent “the involvement of foreign elements”.
The court is headed by three senior judges elected by the government.