(Adnkronos) – Sentences of up to ten years in prison in Hong Kong for pro-democracy activists accused of “subversion”. All guilty of violating the controversial “national security” law wanted by Beijing for the former British colony increasingly in the orbit of the Asian giant. Well-known activist Joshua Wong and jurist Benny Tai – in the group of activists, academics and parliamentarians known as ‘Hong Kong 47’ – were sentenced to more than four years and ten years in prison respectively, the BBC reports. Never before had such a heavy sentence been handed down in the name of the contested law of four years ago.
In what is considered the maxi trial of Hong Kong for alleged violations of the law, in force since June 2020 after the mass protests of the previous year, most of the activists in the group are considered guilty of “conspiracy with the aim of subverting the power of the state”.
The charge of subversion relates to the promotion of ‘unofficial’ primaries in 2020 for the elections for the LegCo, the mini-Parliament of Hong Kong, which were then postponed. The activists had come under fire for the charges more than three years ago. The trial ran from February to December last year. 31 had pleaded guilty at the start of the proceedings and of the remaining 16 defendants, 14 had been found guilty in May. Two people were acquitted.
