Hong Kong 47: 14 opposition figures found guilty of subversion, 2 acquitted over election plot to topple government
- Three High Court judges find unofficial ‘primary’ election part of a wider plot to ‘undermine, destroy or overthrow’ government by creating constitutional crisis
- Government plans to appeal acquittal of former district councillors Lawrence Lau and Lee Yue-shun
Fourteen opposition figures were found guilty of subversion while two were acquitted over an election plot to topple the Hong Kong government, as the city’s biggest and longest-running national security trial reached a verdict on Thursday.
The 16 were from a group of 47 politicians and activists prosecuted under the Beijing-imposed national security law when they held an unofficial “primary” election for opposition parties in 2020, which three High Court judges found was part of a wider plot to “undermine, destroy or overthrow” the government by creating a constitutional crisis after taking over the legislature.
The government plans to appeal the acquittal of former district councillors Lawrence Lau Wai-chung and Lee Yue-shun, the first defendants to be found not guilty under the national security law introduced four years ago to end the anti-government protest chaos of 2019.
The 14 convicted on Thursday will be sentenced at a later date along with 31 others who have already pleaded guilty – some of them having turned witness for the prosecution – following mitigation hearings set to begin on June 25.