Hong Kong 47: court rules subversion scheme as severe as violent attack against government

Threat of unofficial ‘primary’ election justifies stiff sentences on 45 former politicians and activists, three High Court judges say

Reading Time:3 minutes

A vehicle carries defendants to court for the “Hong Kong 47” subversion case. Photo: Elson Li

Published: 7:30pm, 19 Nov 2024Updated: 9:53pm, 19 Nov 2024

A Hong Kong court has ruled that a subversive scheme devised by the now-decimated opposition camp to coerce authorities into giving in to protesters’ demands is as egregious as a violent attack on the city government.

Three High Court judges issued the ruling on Tuesday for their sentencing of 45 former politicians and activists involved in an illegal legislative “primary” election four years ago.

The defendants were among a group of 47 charged with conspiracy to subvert state power in the city’s largest and longest-running trial under the Beijing-decreed national security law. The case against two defendants was earlier dismissed over uncertainty about whether they had knowingly taken part in the offence.

Former legal scholar Benny Tai Yiu-ting, the initiator of the primary, was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment on Tuesday, whereas the remaining 44 defendants were jailed for 50 to 93 months.

In an 82-page written verdict delivered at West Kowloon Court, the three judges held that those running in the unofficial poll in July 2020 were “essential characters” of a wider plot to bring down the government through the abuse of lawmakers’ powers once they were elected to the Legislative Council.

Justices Andrew Chan Hing-wai, Alex Lee Wan-tang and Johnny Chan Jong-herng dismissed a defence contention that the present case was not as severe as other subversion offences such as a physical attack on government premises.