Two plead guilty at trial of leading Hong Kong activists
HONG KONG: Two former Hong Kong lawmakers on Tuesday pleaded guilty to charges of illegal assembly, as a trial opened for them and seven other prominent democracy activists in what is seen as a crackdown on dissent in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
The activists are charged with organising and participating in an illegal assembly during massive anti-government protests in 2019. They include Martin Lee, an 82-year-old veteran of Hong Kong’s democracy movement, and Jimmy Lai, a newspaper publisher who is being held without bail on other charges related to his pro-democracy activities.
The two who pleaded guilty were Au Nok-hin and Leung Yiuchung, both former members of the Hong Kong legislature. Au pleaded guilty to both charges, while Leung pleaded guilty just to participating in an illegal assembly. Prosecutors dropped the organising charge against Leung. The other seven pleaded not guilty. The charges stem from an August 18, 2019, protest.
Before the trial, supporters and several of the accused rallied outside the court. One banner read “Peaceful Assembly is Not a Crime; Shame on Political Prosecution.”
Lee Cheuk-yan, another former lawmaker who is among the defendants, said that the law has become an instrument of political suppression. “It is very sad to witness the deterioration of the rule of law in Hong Kong into a rule by fear,” he said.
Hong Kong was rocked by months of protests in the second half of 2019, sparked by a government bill that would have allowed criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China for trial. The bill was withdrawn, but the protests expanded to include full democracy and other demands and grew increasingly violent.
The nine who appeared in court Tuesday are the first to go on trial among about 15 wellknown activists who were arrested in April of last year.
Canada, allies denounce arbitrary detentions
OTTAWA : Canada, the US and a coalition of 56 other countries on Monday endorsed a declaration denouncing state-sponsored arbitrary detention of foreign nationals for political purposes.
The new declaration was the result of a campaign to free Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor from Chinese prison.
The two were arrested in apparent retaliation for the arrest days earlier of a top Chinese tech executive Meng Wanzhou, a Huawei official and the daughter of the company’s founder.