In Hong Kong 47 democracy activists are on trial

Protests against the indictment of activists and activists accused of conspiring against the government under the new Chinese national security law

(Photo: Geovien So / Getty Images) Forty-seven activists and activists for democracy are today on trial in Hong Kong, accused of conspiring to overthrow the current government. Over a thousand people gathered before the court that will judge activists and activists, to give them support and demand the release of all political prisoners.

The group was accused of organizing and taking part, lo last year, in the primary, not authorized by the authorities, to select the democratic candidates for the elections that should have been held in Hong Kong in 2020, then canceled by the government due to the Covid-19 pandemic. More than 600,000 people took part in the consultations, but according to the government these aimed to "subvert state power". For the prosecution, activists and activists would have planned to obtain a majority in the legislative council (the local parliamentary assembly) to block "indiscriminately any bill, regardless of its content", to force the chief executive to dissolve the parliament and "paralyze the operations of the government", so as to induce his resignation. The alleged plan would therefore have aimed to "seriously interfere, interrupt and sabotage the performance of the tasks and functions of the government in accordance with the law".

According to the Hong Kong Basic Law of 1990, the former British colony is a Chinese special administrative region, which however has the common low system inherited from the United Kingdom. This law guaranteed the region some important democratic freedoms and a certain independence from China's policies, such as the right of assembly, freedom of speech and the independence of the judiciary. Since 2019, however, the Chinese government has begun to significantly reduce Hong Kong's independence, sparking massive mass protests that lasted entire months. Following the protests, the Chinese authorities then imposed the National Security Law, aimed at suppressing protests and pro-democracy movements.

The new National Security Law made it easier to arrest government opponents, making anyone who speaks contrary to the Chinese or Hong Kong authorities liable to prosecution. The penalties can even reach life imprisonment and the trials of dissidents can be held in secret and without the presence of a jury. Since the passing of the law, several hundred activists and activists have been prosecuted and around 100 are currently detained for political offenses.

Among the people who will be tried are some of the leaders of Hong's democracy movement Kong, such as Jimmy Sham, organizer of the 2019 protests, Benny Tai, Leung Kwok-hung, Sam Cheung and Lester Shum. The former British diplomat in Hong Kong Jonathan Williams also participated in the demonstrations in front of the court, while EU spokesmen and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken condemned the measures taken by the Chinese authorities. According to some commentators, the Guardian reports, activists and activists face heavy sentences and no possibility of bail during the trial.


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