Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Activists Seek Lenience in Major National Security Trial
Five prominent pro-democracy activists from the landmark "Hong Kong 47" national security case have appeared in court, trying for lighter sentences. 45 of the convicted activists are set to make their cases in batches over the next six weeks.
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00:00Deciding the fate of pro-democracy activists,
00:03Hong Kong's courts are hearing requests for leniency
00:06from five defendants in the city's biggest national security trial
00:10under Beijing-imposed laws,
00:12which could see some of them jailed for life.
00:15Among the five is legal scholar Benny Tsai,
00:18who prosecutors have dubbed the mastermind
00:20behind an unofficial poll to select candidates
00:23for a legislative election four years ago.
00:26Seeing this as an attempt to overthrow the government,
00:29authorities arrested Tsai and 46 other Democrats in 2021,
00:34collectively known as the Hong Kong 47.
00:37All but two of them were eventually convicted.
00:40We have demonstrated to the world
00:42and also to the authority
00:46that we have not given up
00:49to strive for democracy for Hong Kong.
00:52The case has drawn international criticism
00:55for Beijing's sweeping controls of Hong Kong
00:58and damaging democratic freedom.
01:00Chinese and Hong Kong authorities
01:02maintain that the national security laws
01:04were needed to bring back stability
01:06after months of pro-democracy protests in 2019,
01:10sparked by a bill that would have allowed
01:12sending criminal suspects to be tried in China.
01:16The chief executive John Lee said that
01:19political reform or universal suffrage
01:23is out of his agenda in his term of office.
01:27Both Beijing and Hong Kong set the tone
01:29that any kind of progression
01:33back to the days that we used to be
01:39would no longer a thing.
01:4245 of the activists are set to make their cases
01:45in the coming six weeks,
01:47including seasoned politicians, academics,
01:49doctors and journalists.
01:51Some, including Benny Tsai, have pleaded guilty,
01:54while others have become witnesses for the prosecution,
01:57moves that could lead to reduced sentences.
02:00But whether that will be honoured is uncertain,
02:03as Hong Kong scholars say the city's legal system,
02:06with judges hand-picked by Beijing,
02:08may not be following precedent.
02:11Scott Huang and Joyce Tsen for Taiwan Plus.