By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

HONG KONG (Worthy News) – Fourteen pro-democracy activists were convicted in Hong Kong’s biggest national security case to date, raising concerns that the territory is losing its autonomy to mainland China faster than expected.

Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese rule on July 1, 1997, with Beijing promising wide-ranging autonomy, unfettered individual rights, and judicial independence at least until 2047.

However, Thursday’s convictions came after China’s critics already accused Beijing and local authorities of trampling on freedoms unavailable on the authoritarian communist-run mainland.

The court said the pro-democracy activists planned to effect change through an unofficial primary election that would have “undermined the government’s authority” and created “a constitutional crisis.”

Following a 2019 protest movement that filled the city’s streets with protesters, authorities launched a crackdown to silence dissent.

Hong Kong’s leadership reduced public choice in elections, pressured media, and oversaw the Beijing-imposed security law under which the activists were convicted.

Those found guilty of “conspiracy to commit subversion” included former lawmakers Leung Kwok-hung, Lam Cheuk-ting, Helena Wong, and Raymond Chan, and they could face up to life in prison when sentenced later.

The two defendants acquitted were former district councilors Lee Yue-shun and Lawrence Lau. But the prosecution said it intends to appeal against the acquittals.

They join the ranks of dozens of others — once the vanguard of the city’s opposition — who may now become a generation of political prisoners.

The authorities had accused 47 pro-democracy figures, including Benny Tai, a former law professor, and Joshua Wong, a protest leader and founder of a student group, of conspiracy to commit subversion.

Thirty-one of them had pleaded guilty. and four of them have become prosecution witnesses.

Several countries, including the United States, condemned the trial as politically motivated and called for the accused to be immediately released.

Diplomats from several countries, including Britain and the European Union, attended the hearing, reporters witnessed. “Australia has expressed our strong objections to the Hong Kong authorities on the continuing broad application of national security legislation to arrest and pressure pro-democracy figures,” Foreign Minister
Penny Wong said in a statement.

She said her government was “deeply concerned” with the verdicts and would
continue to seek consular access to Gordon Ng, an Australian citizen and one of those convicted.

Yet prosecutors said the accused attempted to paralyze Hong Kong’s government and topple the city’s leader by securing the legislative majority necessary to veto budgets indiscriminately.

In a summary of the verdict distributed to the media, the court agreed that the election participants, except the two acquitted men, had threatened to veto budgets through their legislative powers.

Under the city’s mini-constitution, the chief executive can dissolve the legislature if a budget cannot be passed. However, the leader must step down if the next parliament again vetoes the budget.

In the full, 319-page verdict, the judges approved by the Beijing-backed government to oversee the case said if the plan to veto bills would lead to the dissolution of the legislature, it meant “the implementation of any new government policies would be seriously hampered and essentially put to a halt.”

“The power and authority of both the Government and the Chief Executive would be greatly undermined,” the court added in the verdict. “In our view … that would create a constitutional crisis for Hong Kong.”

As the hearing concluded, some of the convicted defendants waved at their families as they left the courtroom, on the way to an uncertain future.

Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.

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