Barely begun, this trial has already become a symbol… Because in Hong Kong, it has become impossible to demand more democracy and autonomy, impossible to refuse the diktat of communist China. The “dissidents” have no future, the judicial system is first thought of as a tool intended to gag the little that remains of opposition.
Democracy on trial in Hong Kong. 47 activists who demand the establishment of a democratic regime are accused of having wanted to overthrow power by organizing an opposition primary in 2020. They risk life in prison. pic.twitter.com/DCrkOIvwsf
— TV5MONDE Info (@TV5MONDEINFO) February 6, 2023
In the courtroom yesterday, one of the activists pleaded not guilty with these words: “Resisting tyranny is not a crime”. Like the majority of the defendants, he has been in prison for two years.
A primary in view of the elections
What they are accused of is having organized a primary in 2020 to be able to present opposition candidates – in the legislative elections.
600,000 people had voted despite the fact that this primary had not been accepted by the authorities. The objective of the activists was to translate into politics the immense democratic aspiration that had been expressed in the streets during the demonstrations of 2019. They hoped to be in the majority within the municipal assembly, to push towards the exit the pro-Beijing leader at the time.
May 27, 2020 Hongkong: There are more than 300 people were arrested, including elementary school children and little girls
A prison sentence of 3 years and a fine of 5,000 euros may be pronounced. pic.twitter.com/j9Qd58DJvJ
— Glory Day (@FliciaLi1) May 28, 2020
Except that for the prosecutors, this initiative was an attempted coup, a “conspiracy to commit an act of subversion“. That year, moreover, the elections were canceled; the new electoral code imposed in the process reserves political positions for “patriot” candidates, in the official line.
Joshua Wong among the defendants
The organizers and participants in the primary were arrested. It is they today who are judged; they face life imprisonment. Among them are a jurist, a deputy, a teacher, a journalist… Joshua Wong, 26, one of the most famous figures of the movement.
Reminder that this young man, Joshua Wong, is locked up for no reason other than he wants freedom from Chinese Communist Party oppression. https://t.co/i2JwOCDH4v
—Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) March 13, 2021
We always come back to this famous law on national security, this law which allowed their arrest was enacted in mid-2020, it is modeled on Chinese legislation with the aim of breaking political agitation, bringing Hong Kong in line. While the region enjoyed (special regime) significant freedoms from the continent.
This river trial should last three or four months. This will be a major test for taking the pulse of the rule of law in Hong Kong. It is held in open court, but without a jury – which is a departure from the “common law” tradition of Hong Kong, whose judicial system is inherited from the British. Most Western countries have planned to follow it very closely.
