2 years ago
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HONG KONG — A Hong Kong tribunal connected Monday sentenced activistic and concern tycoon Jimmy Lai to 13 months successful jailhouse for urging information successful past year’s banned Tiananmen vigil, amid a crackdown by Chinese authorities that has rolled backmost the semi-autonomous city’s civilian liberties.
The District Court convicted 7 others connected akin charges and handed retired sentences of up to 14 months.
Hong Kong’s authorities has banned the candlelight vigil for the past 2 years connected pandemic power grounds, though it is wide believed the prohibition is intended to beryllium imperishable arsenic authorities look to squelch the city’s pro-democracy movement.
Lai, the laminitis of the now-shuttered pro-democracy paper Apple Daily, has already been jailed for taking portion successful pro-democracy protests for which helium volition service a full of 20 months.
In the latest case, helium was convicted connected Thursday of inciting others to instrumentality portion successful the unauthorized assembly to memorialize those killed successful the army’s bloody crackdown connected student-led pro-democracy protests that centered connected Beijing’s Tiananmen Square successful 1989.
Two different defendants convicted on with Lai, lawyer Chow Hang-tung and erstwhile newsman Gwyneth Ho, were sentenced to 12 and six months respectively for participating successful the vigil. Chow was besides sentenced for inciting others to join.
The trio had antecedently pleaded not blameworthy to the charges.
Others sentenced Monday included Lee Cheuk-yan, the erstwhile president of the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance successful Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. Lee received 14 months for organizing past year’s unauthorized assembly, during which thousands of radical gathered to airy candles and sing songs successful Hong Kong’s Victoria Park contempt constabulary warnings that they whitethorn beryllium breaking the law.
The remainder were fixed sentences ranging from 4 months, 2 weeks, to 9 months.
The Hong Kong Alliance antecedently organized a candlelight vigil each June, the lone large-scale nationalist commemoration connected Chinese ungraded of the 1989 crackdown successful Beijing.
More than a twelve activists had already been convicted implicit the banned vigil, astir of whom pleaded guilty, including outspoken activistic Joshua Wong, who was fixed 10 months successful jailhouse for participating. He was already successful jailhouse aft a erstwhile condemnation connected different charges related to his activism.
Two different activists successful the case, Nathan Law and Sunny Cheung, person fled the city.
Lai’s Apple Daily was forced to unopen down successful June aft constabulary froze $2.3 cardinal of its assets, searched its bureau and arrested 5 apical editors and executives. Police besides accused the individuals of overseas collusion to endanger nationalist security.
The Hong Kong Alliance disbanded successful September, amid accusations from the authorities that the enactment was moving for overseas interests. Leaders of the confederation categorically denied the accusations.
Lai, 73, is presently serving a abstracted 14-month jailhouse word for different convictions earlier this twelvemonth besides related to unauthorized rallies successful 2019, erstwhile hundreds of thousands repeatedly took to the streets successful the biggest situation to Beijing since the British handed implicit the metropolis to Chinese power successful 1997 nether a “one country, 2 systems” framework.
Under that arrangement, Beijing promised that the territory could clasp its freedoms not recovered connected the mainland for 50 years, but has mostly reneged connected that pledge by severely curtailing escaped code and barring pro-democracy politicians from office.
China past twelvemonth passed a broadly defined nationalist information instrumentality which has been viewed arsenic codifying Beijing’s repressive tactics, efficaciously ending Western-style civilian liberties successful Hong Kong.
English (US) ·